


The Supernatural Walking Dead Nation

by Linku, MasqueradeRose92



Series: The Supernatural Walking Dead Nation [1]
Category: Supernatural, The Walking Dead (TV), Z Nation (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:09:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28580268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linku/pseuds/Linku, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MasqueradeRose92/pseuds/MasqueradeRose92
Summary: Honestly there is a lot going on with this story, so sorry if there is any confusion.So first off, this is a roleplay my cousin and are working on. It started out as a "The Walking Dead" RP, but then we included the TV show "Z Nation" and then eventually we combined it with "Supernatural.""Z Nation" and "Supernatural" were not added until much later into the story. If you have not watched all three of these though, I would not recommend reading any further. There are going to be a lot of spoilers.Sometimes the story aligns very closely with episodes in all three of these TV shows, other times we add our own thing...a lot of the time our self created characters do tend to steal the thunder of the other characters.Either way, we wanted to share our journey that we have been consistently working on since early 2019 and are still working on to this day. We very much hope you enjoy the story though and thank you so much for reading!As a short summary to the story, it starts off with The Walking Dead when Sophia runs away from the high way. My character is Emma and her character is Tara Dixon (not the one originally in The Walking Dead), twin sister of Daryl Dixon.
Relationships: Addy Carver/George Z Nation, Castiel/Dean Winchester, Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes
Series: The Supernatural Walking Dead Nation [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094114
Kudos: 3





	1. The Highway

What a damn shit show this was, but all her anxiety drained from her body as she felt the winds caress her dirty tanned skin. The roar of the twin motorcycles singing in tune with one another. Her eyes shift over to her fellow bike rider. Green eyes met, green eyes. Her other half, and the only other man she had any inklings of love and loyalty towards (well, except for Merle, but even then, this was a different type of bond). Daryl. Her elder twin of 5 minutes, oh and don’t think he didn’t like to rub that in. In that one look it seemed that they didn’t even need words. Having perfected the art of not making a sound when Pa was home and drunk. But knowing how Dixon-tough she was, he seemed to always want to protect her, even though she would stomp anyone’s ass that messed with her. ‘ Screw that’ their first stop got overrun with walkers. They had lost some people, Amy and Jim. And Merle. 

That had been a hard one, just keeping Daryl from killing anyone, especially Officer friendly. Then making the move to the CDC. A stupid ass move to get a dead mans help. Her and Daryl had already come to a decision about the walkers and that was zero tolerance, for walkers or for them to become them. 

Then with the cluster fuck at the CDC, they lost a few more people. She really never stayed in camp long enough to get anyone’s name or even cared too. Her and Daryl were not group people. And both had shielded themselves away from the others. They still hunted and did what needed to be done (obviously since the city folks didn’t know how to get a meal without going to the supermarket).  
Her bike came to a slow stop as she moved her legs down to hold the bike between them. She stood as best as she could. Gloved fingers still gripping the bars of the trump. Both bikes turned off at the same time as both riders slowly removed themselves from the motorcycles. There were a group of cars and one RV stopped about a hundred feet away. 

She moved to the back of her bike and grabbed her crossbow. It was a Striker, the same as her older brother, only hers had Indian beads and two pure white feathers hanging on the hilt. Her steps were graceful as she stood next to Daryl, her eyes scanning the highway graveyard. She then looked back up to her brother, he only stood a few inches taller than her, but they looked very much alike. Her body was more feminine in all the right places, and her black dirty hair layered to her shoulders. Her chest, larger and her hips a little more thick, but it made her none the less dangerous. She then looked behind her as she started watching the group come out of whatever car they were in to see what the hold up was. Tara moved slowly and hip checked her brother asking the question without words. 'don’t think we can get through?' he looked to her for a second and then back over the highway graveyard and shook his head. She then turned her head to the others. The traditional Dixon no emotion look that they gave to the group of stupid humans, everytime one of them spoke.

**Off the Road:**

It had been several years since Emma had run away from her mother and father's home to elope with her now husband. She had never been mistreated at home, but she hated how her father had treated her mother and the fact that her mom would never leave him, no matter how badly he hurt her. To top it off, she was sure her father hated her boyfriend and not the typical father sitting on the porch with a shotgun sort of way. He really did want to kill Lance. She had kept her distance from her family so thoroughly after that, she hadn't even heard that her mother had died until it was too late and then all hell broke loose. People who she was once friends with were no longer her friends. They became monsters, feasting on human flesh, forgetting their names, forgetting who they were…

Lance and Emma had done just fine on their own for several months after the outbreak, taking to the woods since all of the neighborhoods around them were overtaken by the monsters. That had all changed a few days previously, when Emma was out hunting. She had come back with her fresh kill just moments too late. Lance had killed the monsters who attacked him, but a price had been paid. One had bitten him on the arm before he had stabbed it in the head with his machete. 

It didn't take long for the fever to take hold of him after that. She tried. God did she try. She had cleaned the wound and patched it up, hoping against hope that he would be spared and they could go back to being happy, hidden away within the trees, but it wasn't in the cards. He could feel the change coming as she sat down at his side in their tent, holding his hand. He had been quiet for hours, just staring at her almost blankly.  
"Kill me," he had said.  
"I can’t," she told him, shaking her head.  
"If you don't, I'm gonna turn into one of them and then I'm going to try to kill you. I don't want that." She had held the machete close to her after that, waiting. Then the time came.  
"I love you," he had said. Emma leaned down and kissed him, making it so much harder on herself to do what needed to be done, but she did it.  
She wouldn't stay in that tent afterwards though. She had buried him on her own and then packed a bag, keeping a few of his shirts and a few of her own clothes, along with some food and water. She was wearing one of his grey wife beaters with her own jeans and hiking boots, her long brown hair tied up in a ponytail and then she left.  
She walked through the woods on her own until she got close to the highway. For a moment, she thought she heard something, but was quickly distracted by the sound of footsteps and growling behind her.  
"Shit," she said, pulling out the machete, but it was already on her. It knocked her to the ground, her weapon just barely out of reach. She held the monster up with one hand to keep it from biting her and reached with the other, feeling around for anything that could be used as a weapon. Finally her fingers clasped themselves around a small rock. She hit it in the head, but the damn thing wouldn't 'die.'

Tara shot without really thinking about it. Once the bolt sunk in a third of the way the walker stopped all movements and became true dead weight. She moved with grace, making no sound. Her presence, similar to a silent predator. She lowered her bow and looked over to the one still living. It was odd coming across other living people. Plus her and her brother never really connected with people. Her green eyes swept the area once more and then she cocked her head to the side, turning the way she came, going back to the group that was now going through cars and scavenging.

Emma jumped as the arrow went through the skull of the monster who had just been trying to eat her. She breathed a sigh of relief as she kicked it off of her. She got back on her feet, pulling the arrow out of the monster's face, wiping it off on its own clothing and went to grab her machete. She put her beloved's weapon back in its home and followed the girl who had saved her.  
"Thanks. I thought I was a goner," she said, jogging silently to keep up. "Do you want this back?" She asked, offering up the arrow.  
When she reached the highway, there were quite a few living people going through cars. She almost wanted to cry. Aside from Lance, she hadn't seen anyone alive since before the outbreak of monsters. She had thought almost that they must be one of the only ones left alive and that's how they had lived. She stood on the highway, her eyes wide in amazement.

Tara watched her from the side, never letting her guard down. When the woman talked to her she just nodded slightly. Stopping with the woman for a minute to take in her reaction to the group. She then removed the bolt from the girl's hand and started to the group, slinging her crossbow over her sleeveless, tattooed arms and onto her shoulder.  
As soon as she hops over the divider, her brother is there. His shoulder brushing her shoulder in silent question if she was ok. She then looked up to him with a small smirk on her lips, her answer being a snarky one, and he could only give out a huffed chuckle. He then looked over to where a new person had shown up. His brow rose at his sister in question. Tara looked back at the girl and shrugged her shoulder slightly, not really sure what to think of her, but she was sure officer friendly would have some questions for the newcomer.

Emma looked over as the male approached the other girl. She watched as the two seemed to have a silent conversation. She was sure part of it at least was about her.  
"My name is Emma," she said, even though no one asked. Despite this, a foundation of trust had to be built somewhere and sometimes that started with a name. That's what her dad always told her at least.  
"A name is a powerful thing," he would tell her. She agreed with him to an extent, but it fell short of that. "If the wrong people have your name, they will have power over you, but if the right people do, they will look to you. You will have power over them."  
She didn't want power over anyone though. She never did. Right now all she wanted to do was survive and maybe, just maybe she could join this group...at least for a little while. She watched the group a while longer as they went through the vehicles, but it wasn't long before someone else in the group noticed her. A man standing on top of an RV looked at her and called out for someone by the name of Rick and pointed directly at her and the other two. The man on top of the RV turned around, looking off into the distance.

The twins both looked to her once she had said her name and glanced at one another once more. Then the elder nodded to them and turned to walk off going to join the man, T-dog looking for gas. She then turned to look at Emma, now really looking her over, she and her brother had become very good at judging humans and sensing their intent before they said a word. She felt no malice, or darkness from this Emma girl. She then nodded to her.  
“Tara” Right after she had said her name two males made their way to them, one of them in a sheriff uniform. Hat and all. The other in black pants and a gray shirt and a shotgun in his hand. Tara watched as they got closer, and she moved slightly a little closer to Emma.

Emma felt strangely nervous all of a sudden as the two men approached them. The man in the sheriff's uniform and hat wasn't the one making her nervous though. Something about the other male did though. She didn't know what it was, but something seemed a little off about him.  
"Who's this?" The man in the grey shirt asked, his hand resting just above his gun. The man in the sheriff's uniform slightly smiled and shook his head. These two were friends it seemed.  
"My names Emma," she said once again, now directed towards these two. She nodded her head at Tara. "She saved me," she said. "One of those monsters was about to get the better of me."  
"You call them monsters?" The man who made her uncomfortable asked with a smirk.  
"That's what my husband called them and that's how I refer to them," she replied a little defensively. She hadn't meant too and she wasn't really sure why she did. What did it matter what they called them versus what she did? "That's what they are. They're not human anymore." Her voice cracked slightly, remembering Lance again, but she waved it off.  
"You're right about that, little miss," the man replied. Emma couldn't help but glare at him slightly, hoping her eyes didn't betray how she felt about being called 'little miss,' if she was going to ask to join them for a little while, she couldn't go betraying her own emotions.

The comment Shane had made to Emma made her eyes snap to him with a strong frown moving a little more toward Emma. Damn it, she wasn’t going to get involved in all this crap, but she hated Shane. He was dark and twisted and she would never let him be around one of the women alone. Officer friendly gave a warm smile to Emma nodding and tipping his hat to her softly.  
“Forgive him Emma. My name is Rick Grimes. This is Shane. And the woman who saved you is Tara. Do you need a group to stay with? We don’t have much but you are welcome to stay with us,” he said as he looked over to Tara with a nod and a smile. She just scoffed at him and walked off to go looking through cars that were now tombs.

"Are you sure, Rick?" The man called Shane asked quietly, a flash of some hidden emotion going through his eyes. "We can barely support our people let alone someone else. If you let her in, you're taking away from Lori and Carl, not to mention everyone else. Especially not for someone we don't even know. Hell Rick, it sounds like she cant even take care of herself with one Walker if Tara had to save her ass."  
"Excuse me," Emma said, not bothering to hide her annoyance this time. "I have been taking care of myself since this shit started. The only reason the fucker got me is cause I was a little distracted by the noise up here and he got a little bit too close. By the time I got my machete out it was too late. I wasn't sure who was up here and I didn't want to attract more by shooting." Emma turned to Rick, unwilling to speak to this asshole anymore.  
"I do appreciate it Rick, but he is right. I don't want to be a burden on your group. If you do let me in, I promise to do whatever I can to help out. I've got a ton of guns and bullets, plus food and a few clothes. Not much in that department, but I'd be happy to help out where I can. Give me the word, and I can help or I can go."

Rick had seen the flash of something through Shane’s eyes. Had they fallen so far apart that he couldn’t even tell what his brother was feeling? He only nodded to Shane, showing him that he had heard him and then his eyes moved to Emma and his smile came out once again.  
“I know that, Shane but I couldn’t just leave her here, especially if she can help us protect the others. If she has stayed alive since it started I think she will earn her place here. Besides Shane, you said the same about the twins, and they are the only ones providing fresh meat.” He then clapped Shane on the shoulder and turned back around. “Emma, we are scavenging cars right now. Look for anything useful. When we are done, meet back at the RV, and we can see who you can ride with."  
As they spoke, Tara looked through the cars closest to Rick, Emma, and Shane to keep an ear out for Emma just in case.

"Whatever," Shane replied. "Welcome to the group I guess," he said before walking away.  
"Well isn't he just a charmer," Emma said, looking at Rick. "Thank you. I'll definitely earn my keep." She glanced over at Tara and the other man and then followed suit. She went to a random car and checked inside. It was empty. She opened the door and began scavenging moving from the inside of the car and then popping open the trunk. Inside were sodas, Gatorade, and clothes. There were a few cans of food as well.

Rick gave her a pat on the shoulder and headed to where Shane took off to see if he could cool him down. Tara was now beside the car Emma was going through, her toned arms crossed over her chest as she watched Emma. She stayed quiet, her hip slowly coming to rest on the car, leaning just a little. Her voice was honey rough, it seemed she would have to use her voice a little more so she didn’t lose it like her brother said. She turned slowly. This girl didn’t seem dark, not like Shane. "Don’t get close to Shane, he’s a dick and thinks he is in charge.”

"I can tell," Emma replied with a chuckle. "I plan on staying as far away from him as I possibly can if I can. I know it'll probably be a little hard joining the group." She sighed, filling her duffle bag, before quietly closing the trunk. She hitched her bag back onto her back before leaning against the car too for a moment. "He can't be any worse than my dad at least. Now that guy was fucking crazy." She looked over at the male who Tara had been standing beside earlier. "Is he your brother?" She asked curiously. 

Crazy fathers, man, Tara understood that. Their pa wasn’t so much crazy unless he was high, but he was a mean fucker. Tara nodded when she spoke about her father and looked over to the man that was her brother. She gave a small grunt and nodded.  
“My older brother Daryl. He doesn’t really talk much. And we try to keep distance from the group." She then moved her arms to her side and then pushed off the car. “ if you need me, come find me. If you stay around me and Daryl where the others can see us, you're going to get pushed out of the group." She wasn’t too sure what was going on in her head. She had never taken to anyone as quick as Emma. 

Tara nodded to Emma one last time before she turned around, but then stopped dead in her tracks. Walkers...and a whole lot of them. The sounds of moans and groans from the dead could still scare the shit out of her, especially in large groups. Her eyes then shot to Daryl. Him and T-dog still unaware. Tara then turns with haste, grabbing Emma’s wrist and pulling her with her, not giving her the option, letting out two high short whistles. She watched Daryl’s head shoot up from the ground and looked over behind his sister and the new kid. His eyes widen as he drops what he’s doing and grabs T-dog by the shoulders and shoves him under a car, soon back to back. 

Rick is going around and warning the others until he gets under a car. Tara takes her bow and drops it and kicks it lightly under the old beat up Chevy and then pushes Emma down and under it and then removes the large Bowie knife and drops down and rolls under the truck. Her back pressed hard against Emma’s. As the first one slowly starts walking by, Tara slowly raises her knife still in fight mode. The sweat slowly dropped down her face as she stayed completely still. Another practiced art. Her breathing is slow and calm. The smell she had finally gotten used to. Her heart beat started to raise, fuck, she was scared, but she kept her calm and waited for this sick nightmare to end.

Emma dropped the duffle bag as she was grabbed and pushed under the car. Her machete had fallen off as she went under. She grabbed the weapon by sliding her hand beneath the car quickly and brought it back, clutching it against her person. She let out a slow breath before the monsters edged closer to them. She then held in her breath, mostly out of nervousness. In the woods, she hadn't ever seen quite this big of a herd come through. A few stragglers here and there, but nothing quite this large. This was the whole reason she generally stayed in the woods. She quietly moved onto her stomach, like Tara, holding her weapon close to her. Under the other cars, she saw other members of the group. A couple of kids were hidden beneath the car, a couple women, the men she had already met and a few she hadn't. God, she hoped no one got caught. This would be a feast for the mass of monsters coming for them.

Time seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace. Tara never relaxed, she stayed in her fight mode till it seemed the smell started to lighten, and the groans of the dead started to quiet. Tara then moved over onto her stomach and really scanned the pavement. Looking for more dead walking on clumsy legs. She looked at the others she could see. Rick over to her right. And she couldn’t tell if he was going to pass out or shoot the nearest walker. She then sees the kids and the other woman, then moves slowly to look down to try and see her brother. When she saw a glimpse of him, Tara gave a light sigh of relief. He was okay. Tara then looked over at Emma and brushed her shoulder with her own in silent question if she was okay. Once she got Emma’s attention she whispers to her.  
“Stay hidden, and don’t move till I or Daryl give one high whistle. Then come-” she didn’t get to finish her words cut off as a child’s scream pierced the air. Her eyes widened and then she moved to grab her bow and then out from under the truck. Her eyes taking in what was happening as a little girl took off into the woods, walkers right behind her. Then Rick was gone. Damn it, they didn’t know the woods like the twins did. And she didn’t see her brother so something must have happened to T-Dog to not be able to move. She didn’t think and then took off at her fastest speed, jumping the rails and sliding down into the bank and then put on a burst of speed before she was claimed by the woods as well. The other members of the group soon got up. Daryl helped a bloody T-Dog to stand looking around to see what the hell just happened.

Emma nodded quietly in response to Tara to say that she was okay.  
"Okay," she whispered, but when the girl and then Tara took off, Emma just waited a moment until everyone else began to come out of their hiding places. Emma grabbed her duffle bag off the ground and placed her machete back on her back. A part of her wanted to run off to help find the little girl, but she had medical supplies in her bag and she thought Daryl would be more help than she would. The two twins seemed to have their own secret code and she was an outsider. She walked over to Daryl and the injured man and gently touched his shoulder.  
"Your sister ran off to find the girl. Go help her. I'll stay with him," she said, nodding at the wounded man. She took the man's arm, inspecting it. "This is probably going to hurt. Sit down." She was all in serious mode now at this point. She opened the front pouch of her bag and pulled out her first aid kit that she had put together before leaving her home in the woods.  
She dug out one of her own shirts and put pressure against the wound. With a cut as deep as this, she knew it wouldn't stop the bleeding, but it would help a little. She removed a water bottle from the bag and poured it over the wound and wiped away some of the blood. When she was satisfied, she poured antiseptic over the wound to clean it out. Afterwards, she took out some numbing cream.  
"It's not going to help a lot. It's only meant for small wounds, but it should help with some of the pain."  
She took out a needle and thread and began stitching the wound together as best she could. After she was finished, she took out bandages and gauze and began wrapping up the wound.  
"We needed a medic," a woman's voice said from behind her. "I'm Lori," she said.  
"Emma," she replied. "And I'm not a medic. I just had a lot of practice growing up when my dad would come home from getting into bar fights. I went to school for it, but then all...this happened before I could finish."  
When she was done, she put her medical kit back into her bag and wiped the man's blood from her hands. "Thanks, Emma." The man said. "I'm T-dawg."

Daryl jerks at the soft touch of Emma and then looked over to the woods when she said his sister had taken off.  
“What the hell she thinkin’" he grumbled in a Georgia slur before he takes off like an arrow to the woods and disappears within them. Carol was breaking down at the rail, Andrea holding onto her shoulder in comfort. 

Tara ran as fast as she could, staying low and fast, her crossbow up and then releasing the bolt. She hit the walker dead center. She didn’t stop as she shot and ran and removed the arrow while putting her crossbow on her shoulder. Bolt in one hand and Bowie knife in the other. She then looked over, seeing a glimpse of small, blonde hair. She skids to a halt and starts running to the little girl. A handful of walkers close behind. She can hear Rick taking on two, so she took off after the girl. Going around and snatching the little girl in her arms causing her to scream. Tara was quick and quietly calmed the girl, the walkers only seconds behind. She made a spilt-second plan. She took the bolt in her mouth, gripping it with her teeth and swept the girl up and into her chest and took off fast, her crossbow bouncing on her back as she went out of sight, just as Daryl showed up to assist Rick in taking down the handful of walkers. At least three hours passed before someone came out of the woods. Rick and Daryl walking up the incline and getting over the rail. No emotion on Daryl's face but the harsh clinch of his jaw and the tight grip on his crossbow, Ricks eyes slightly water as he looked at Carol as he tried to stop the emotional way his voice wavered.  
“We didn’t see her Carol, I... I’m sorry. B... but we think she is with Tara," he said, looking over to Daryl as he grunts and then nodded. His eyes then looking at the ground.

Emma overheard the conversation between Daryl and the woman he called Carol. She took off at a run without saying anything, going in the direction where Tara had taken off, finally slowing down as she noticed Tara's foot prints. She looked at the ground for indentions and continued following her footsteps, her machete now in her hands. She crept slowly to the woods, paying attention to where she was going, but also looking at the ground. The footsteps were pretty fresh. She had to be getting close.

Sophia could hear the footsteps as they got closer. She clutched the arrow tighter to her chest as she tried to hold back a sob of fear. She was so scared. Miss Tara told her to stay put and not leave until she or someone from the group came. She could tell it wasn’t a walker moving out there so she decided to move from her hiding place within a hollowed out tree, her doll and arrow, clutching them even tighter.  
“H...hello!!! Miss Dixon???” She tried to say softly, seeing the new girl of the group instead. Tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. “ I want my momma.”

"It's okay, sweetie," Emma said gently walking towards her. "I know you do." Emma looked around to make sure they were in no immediate danger before she spoke again. "I'm Emma," she said, keeping her voice low. "Where is Tara?" She asked, walking closer to the girl and kneeling down with her machete still clutched in one hand and remaining on guard, while still attempting to comfort the girl. She had a feeling that Tara wouldn't have left the child unless it was absolutely necessary. She held out her hand to the girl. She didn't hear anything in the woods right now and she didn't want to leave Tara on her own if she was in trouble, but the girl would never find her way back on her own. "Come on," she said. "I'll take you back to your momma." If anything, she would come back to this spot and continue looking for Tara from here. 

Sophia gave a small sniffle and ran over to Emma as fast as she could her arms wrapping around Emma’s waist  
“I’m Sophia , I.. I remember seeing you with Miss Dixon.” Her eyes then started watering again as she took Emma’s hand. Darkness started to overcome the sky as the moon began to reveal itself.

By the time it took them to walk back, night had made a full appearance. Daryl and Rick were standing at the rail, their eyes widening as the two had walked out of the woods. As soon as Sophia sees her mom she runs to her crying and clinging to her mother tight.  
Rick was the first to speak, looking at Emma still not sure what had happened.  
“What happened out there?! How did you find Sophia? I swear I thought Tara would have been with her!" Daryl just kept looking at the woods, eyes tight as if he could try and see his sister. He had taken to pacing, his nerves and anxiety in overdrive. It was too soon, he couldn’t lose her. It hurt when Merle took off but he could not lose his twin. But he knew she was a Dixon, and she knew the woods as well as he did. Going out after dark would cause someone to get killed. And he sighed.” If Tara isn’t back by morning. I’m going after her. Can’t do nothing in the dark.”

Emma walked, clutching Sophia's hand tightly, on high alert. Luckily they didn't run into any trouble on the way back to the highway. When Rick spoke, she looked at him.  
"I tracked her footsteps till Sophia came out of hiding. They went further, but I couldn't leave Sophia alone out there," she looked at Daryl. "I'm sorry," she said. "Sophia didn't say what happened, but I'm guessing they ran into a bit of trouble and she probably took off trying to get the monsters away from Sophia so she could escape." She looked over to the woods, following Daryl's sad gaze. "I'll come with you in the morning. Show you where I found Sophia and we can go from there. The tracks are still pretty fresh, so she won't get too far. She may have even found my tent. I kept it up when I left. We can check there too. It's not very far."

Daryl looked over to Rick and then back to Emma and nodded to her and then walked off to where their bikes are sitting his cross bow down as Rick turned to Emma and nodded as well. “I’ll go too. More eyes the better. Besides, we are not going anywhere any time soon, Dales RV blew a hose, plus the route to Fort Bennett is closed off. There is no way to get through and we don’t have the gas to go back." He gave a frustrated sigh and clapped Emma on her shoulder with a nod. “Thank you Emma, for bringing Sophia back. I know I can’t thank you enough for saving her.” 

"Don't tell me you plan on leaving again," Lori snapped, coming up to Rick, with a little boy. Emma looked to them both and decided this was a couples feud that she should probably not be around for. It wasn't any of her business either way it went. She nodded at Rick.  
"Anytime. Thank you for saving me." Even though Tara had saved her, Rick had also been brave enough to let her into his group. If the monsters hadn't gotten to her, she probably would have gone crazy, out there on her own.  
With that, she walked away and began pacing up and down the side of the road, peering through the trees, scanning for any signs of Tara. Suddenly, she felt a presence beside her.  
"First day and you're already earnin your keep." It was Shane.  
"I guess so," she said simply, not bothering to make eye contact with him.  
"Sorry about earlier," he said. Emma could tell by his tone he didn't really mean it. "Just can't be too careful when it comes to newcomers."  
"No you're not," she replied. "I understand though. Times like these can really bring out the worst in people." She looked at him knowingly. He nodded as if he didn't even notice.  
"Anyway, thanks for your help today," he said before walking away.


	2. The Farm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Tara rescues Sophia, she leads the walkers away from the little girl. After obtaining an injury though, she disappears.   
> Emma, Rick, Daryl, and the rest of the group look for Tara in an attempt to figure out what happened.

Emma hadn't gotten much sleep that night, before it was already time to wake up and go off into the woods. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about Lance.   
She was sure the bags her eyes looked terrible as she led Daryl, Rick, and a few other members of the group to where she had found Sophia. She looked around the trees, following the footsteps until she came to her tent. It looked like Tara had made it this way at least and then continued on because she was nowhere to be found. They rested there for a moment, before continuing, her sitting down next to her husband's grave. She had found a few flowers on the way there. Small daisies that she laid down on the dirt above them. She wished she could do more, but this was all she had. She opened up her water and took a swig of it.

Once she had hidden the little girl, Tara turned around now armed with her knife and bolt gripped tightly in her hand. The first walker fingers grazed her arm and then it dropped to the ground in dead weight, a fresh wound up through the skull. She then turned and ran off as the other three gave chase. She runs fast but not too fast to lose the walkers, not taking the chance that they would go back for the girl. She came up to a tent. It looked like someone had stayed there recently. She moved behind the tent to make sure nothing was there and looked up as the first walker came into view. Her arms go up ready for the first one, but that's where it goes to shit. Dead fingers grip a hold of her left ankle and pull her off of her feet, her only saving grace was moving her arms out to stop a bloody impact. Her panic skyrocketed, and then she kicked the lame walker that only had half of his body in the face and then turned to stab it. She felt the first walker grip her shirt and it rips up the back, aged scars littered her skin along with a few tattoos. She then jumps up and the pain shoots up from her foot. But she doesn’t stop. She takes off once again but her bow was now gone, it must have come off when she hit the ground...fuck!! Daryl was going to kill her, but she pushes it out of her mind and concentrates on one thing. Staying alive. She then stumbled into a hunters spot, her breathing had increased to the point where she was struggling to take in air. Something was wrong, she knew it, but now there was an overweight man wearing camo and some orange. His eyes widen as he aims the rifle at her, finger on the trigger as he yells out something. Tara couldn't really hear, her hearing was gone and black shadows started to cross her vision. No! No! No! If she blacked out now she was never going to see her brother again. He would never know...like with Merle. She could do this, she took as much of a breath as she could.  
“Bro..brother ... highway.. c...can’t-” and then she drops. Her bolt and knife laying at her side. The larger man looks around for only a few seconds before his training kicked in.

Daryl starts to pace, he looked for anything and everything to help get him an idea of what happened to Tara. He looked over to Emma, she had done good getting him this far. That’s when Rick moved down to pick up something from the ground and caused Daryl to stumble back a little. His twins bow. The white feathers were dirty as they hung from the hilt. He then moved over to Rick to take the bow.   
“Looks like she was here. But I think she got over powered.” Daryl nodded and looked at his sister's faint tracks.   
“There has to be a reason she didn’t come back," Andrea said, still kind of sore about not having a gun. She shrugged softly as she sat down. “She was most likely bit and she took off." Daryl shoots his eyes over to the woman and growled dangerously.   
“The hell ya say Blondie!”

Emma stood from her spot and nearly got in Andrea's face, but held back. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" She asked. "Tara is strong," she said, turning to Daryl. "She probably just continued through the woods and it got too dark to head back. If she made it this far, she may have gotten away." She walked away, not giving Andrea a second glance. She planted a kiss on her hand and touched Lance's grave and continued following Tara's footsteps on her own for a moment. There were other prints on the ground aside from hers. There had to be quite a few with her. Her pace quickened as it looked like Tara's pace had done until she came upon a few dead walkers. It looked like she had fallen here. There was blood on the ground. "Daryl!" she yelled as quietly as she could. Another person's prints were there. Those of a bigger man. She knew these tracks though. They belonged to a family that lived out in the country not too far from her and her husband. As the other members of the group approached, she smiled lightly. "I know exactly where she is." She didn't know the family personally but she had ran into them a few times in town.

Daryl’s eyes shot over to Emma’s voice as he took off, Rick and the others on his heel. Daryl comes up beside Emma, Rick close behind. Daryl then looks at Tara’s bow holding it close. “Who has my sister Emma?” The way the words are said, there was a promise of some dark and cruel punishment. He looks back at Emma as Rick stepped closer. Putting a careful hand on Daryl's shoulder, he felt when he flinched back doing his best to calm the raging Daryl.   
"What do you mean Emma?"

"Don't worry," Emma replied quickly. "They won't hurt her." She looked around. "I don't know them super well, but they live not too far from here. I met them before the outbreak. They own a lot of land not too far from here. Won't take too long." She looked around at the blood on the ground. If anything, they were probably helping her. She didn't say anything out loud so as not to make anyone more worried. She looked at Otis' prints on the ground. "We don't need to waste time tracking anymore, come on." She took off in the direction of the Green's house where she knew Tara would be with Hershel and Maggie and the rest of them. She led them out of the clearing and into an overgrown field. In the distance, there was a barn and a little closer a white plantation style house. "She's in there," she said running towards the house. She sprinted onto the porch and banged on the door. "Hershel?!" She said loudly. A woman with short hair answered the door. It was Maggie. "Maggie? I don't know if you remember me or not, but that's not important. Is there a girl here?" She pointed at Daryl. "She's his sister. We tracked her to Otis' hunting spot and saw blood."   
Maggie nodded. "Come in," she said, her voice thick with a southern accent. "Pa has been working on her. She was hurt, but we think she'll be fine." She eyed Daryl. "What's your blood type? She lost quite a bit."

Daryl, Rick and the others took off after Emma. The others falling slightly behind except for Rick and Daryl. Daryl stood a little behind Emma as she talked to the woman behind the door. He could care less about them, but they had helped Tara so he tried to reel back his anger. And when she said something about her needing blood he had enough. He moved past Emma and up to Maggie, trying to be as nice as he could.   
“We are twins, I have the same blood type, where is she?” He didn’t mean to growl the last words at Maggie and he tried to soften his eyes trying to let her know he didn’t mean the sting of his words. But no one really could understand Daryl but his sister. Rick puts his hand on Emma’s shoulders as Daryl and Maggie disappear behind the doors.   
"Alright, let's give them some time, we need to go back to the highway and get the others. I know T-dog was hurt as well. Emma, do you think that they would let us stay here, even if it’s just a little while. This place would be a welcome break. Even if it’s just a few nights' rest?”

Emma nodded in agreement.   
"We can get back here from the highway easily. There's a small town close by too where we can scavenge. Little gas station. I doubt all the gas is gone. We can fill up and come back." As far as Hershel letting them stay here, she wasn't sure. "I think he would probably let us a couple nights. At least enough for Tara to get better. Any further and I'm not sure. He's pretty protective over his property. These are good people though...just a little territorial and I bet a little more so now, after everything." She took water out of her bag, realizing now how thirsty she was after the long run she had just taken. She took a swig and handed Rick the bottle and began walking towards the woods to lead them back to the highway. It didn't take long for them to get to the road and catch the others up on everything that had happened. It wasn't long before they were in the little town and filling up their tanks."

Rick stayed where he was and took a seat on the porch and let Emma take the lead back. It was different having someone helping him get shit together instead of fighting him through everything. It was a nice break from his soon to be ex-wife and Shane. He sat there for a long while waiting for his people to show up or Daryl to come out of the house. Which he did three hours later. Swaying slightly as he took a seat next to Rick. They didn’t say anything for a while. And then Rick looked over. "She okay?" Daryl nodded softly and looked at him and then his eyes went to the floor. "I’ll wait till Emma gets back. She would want to know as well. But she's gonna be okay.”

The sun was beginning to set by the time Emma and the small convoy of vehicles came back to the house. Daryl was sitting on the porch along with Rick. She hopped out of the vehicle that she was riding in with Glen before it came to a complete stop. She ran onto the porch. "Is she okay?" She asked, pulling out a Gatorade for the pale looking Daryl and handing it to him "orange juice would be better, but this should help." The others slowly came out of the cars and piled themselves onto the porch. Maggie came out as well to join them, noting the subtle look that Glen gave to her as she walked outside. Hershal slowly made his way outside as well. "She'll need some antibiotics," the old man said, "but she will be just fine."

Daryl gave Emma a small twitch of his lips. A small smile as he then huffed. Another damn Mother hen if he ever saw one. And he lived with the biggest one ever to live. He took a few long drinks before he looked over at Rick then back to Emma.   
“She must have fell or something, got her ankle cracked good, she must have landed on a walker body or something cause looks like she got a stab wound. The way it went in it collapsed her lung. But Hershal took care of fixing her up.“ He then stood up and looked at all the Green family that had come out and with a thankful tone, “Thank you. “ he whispers and looks down quickly and looks over to Emma. “c... can you umm.. keep and eye on her... please?" He was almost too scared to ask Emma but he needed to leave, he needed to clear his head before he lost it on someone at camp. But Tara had shown she trusted Emma. And Tara was the same as him. Could tell who was good and who was full of shit. And Emma was good people.

"No problem at all," Emma said. She didn't mind going to keep an eye on Tara. "I won't let anything happen to her, I promise." She opened up her bag again and pulled out a pack of ciggs, handing them to Daryl. "Don't go off too far," she said. "You've given too much of your own blood. You need to rest a bit too."   
With that she walked into the house. Tara wasn't too hard to find. She sat down on the side of the bed with her. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't sure if she was awake or not. "You gave us all quite a scare today. Sophia's okay. I don't know if Daryl told you or not, but everything is okay. At least for now."

Tara laid there. She was breathing much better. Her upper half (her boobs included). To help her breathe better she was still ashy color but was getting her color back quickly. She had not woken up since she had passed out. Her body with lack of sleep and food and always on the run, coupled with injuries. Her body had shut down to heal. Her face and arms were still covered in blood and dirt, but her body seemed to relax as Emma started talking. She had felt Daryl’s panic as soon as he stepped into the house. Now, it was calm. She let out a very big exhale as her body turned completely off to start fully healing.  
Soon there was a soft tap on the door Andrea opening the door slowly to look in.   
"Ohh.. I was just checking up on her. Seeing how she was doing." What the hell was the new girl doing with Dixon?

"She'll be fine," Emma said. "She just needs a bit of rest and I'm sure she'll be back to her old self in no time." Emma was an outsider, but Tara and Daryl both were pretty easy to read. Maybe not to the others, but she got the feeling they grew up pretty similarly. For a long time she was a lot like them. Pretty standoffish and didn't immerse herself into groups very often when she could avoid it. Hell, until today she didn't know she had it in her to even slightly be in charge and lead a group, but today she had done just that. If she hadn't done a good job with it, she knew Rick never would have stayed at the house when she went to the others. For some strange reason they all seemed to trust her. Except for Shane really and maybe Lori. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about this Andrea chick, other than how she had spoken about Tara. She rearranged herself on the bed next to Tara, scooting her back against the headboard. She kept her machete on the bedside table so she could grab it quickly if shit hit the fan.

Andrea slowly made her way into the room and closed the door. Her eyes looked over Tara and then over to Emma.   
“If you have something to do you can go do it, I’ll stay with her.“ As soon as the words left her lips Tara’s body and muscles tensed. She may be a part of the group but that didn’t mean she trusted the group, but her body was still shut down. Andrea moves over some so that she could sit on the side of the bed. "Besides, you're new to the group. She might kind of freak if she wakes up with someone she hardly knows," she said it almost like she was more superior now. A winning smile on her lips. “I can take care of her for Daryl.”

Emma shot her a glance, as she felt Tara tense up beside her. She may be knocked out, but she knew Tara could hear or at least had some sort of sense as to what was going on. Emma smiled back.   
"No thank you," she said. "I don't have anything to do right now, so I'm not going to go anywhere." She didn't trust this woman either. "If you have anything to go do, feel free to go ahead." Her tone was sharp, but she said it as nicely as she could. It was a friendly warning. This time. She wouldn't intentionally cause trouble in the group. Rick entrusted her and had faith in her, but she wasn't going to let anyone push her around either. Not Shane, and certainly not this blonde bitch. She casually laid her arms down, intentionally placing her arm against Tara's in a subtle, but meant to be comforting sort of way. "I'm not going anywhere," she said once again, but mostly for Tara's benefit.

That was all it took the soft brush of Emma’s arm against hers and her soft spoken words had her body relaxing back into blissful nothing. Andrea’s eyes cut over to this new girl with a frown and gave a mocking laugh.   
“Look, we don’t know who you are or even where you came from. And if something happens to her then Daryl is gone and then we don’t have a hunter. But I think someone from the group should stay with her,” she challenged. Puffing up her chest just a little as if she was not wrong.

"I'm glad you think so. Too bad I'm sticking around. I don't care if you think I should be the one to stay here with her or not. I made a promise and I'm keeping it." Emma sat up slightly, adjusting her ponytail to make it a little more comfortable against the bed frame. "Besides, Daryl is the one who asked me to watch over her in the first place and while Tara is hurt, his opinion on the subject is the only opinion I give a fuck about." She shrugged. "I understand being wary of me. I am new, but I have nothing to hide. If you want to know something, just ask. I would like to remind you though, that I am only one person. You guys are a group. I should be more intimidated by ya'll as a whole, not the other way around."

Andrea just looked at Emma, the look of disbelief all over her face. She then stood from the bed and crossed her arms.   
“Don’t act all high and mighty. Daryl wouldn’t ask anyone to watch his sister. And I’m sure he would ask someone as new to the group as you are. You most likely misheard him. Shane and Rick are in charge and Shane asked me to stay with her.”   
Andrea looked down again at Emma. Right then there was a soft tap on the door. Opening slowly revealed Carol. Her hands covering her mouth as she looked at Tara.   
“Oh my god.” Tears swell in her eyes as she walks in slowly and lowers herself so she can really see Tara. Her hand moved up slowly running a mother’s tender fingers through Tara’s dirty hair. Carol moves down slowly and whispers a small ‘thank you’ to Tara and then she sits up, just now feeling the tension in the room. She looked to Emma then to Andrea. “What’s going on here?” 

"Ask him if you want," Emma glared. "I'm. Not. Leaving." She grinned, clenching her teeth in anger. "You're welcome to hang around, but as I said, I'm not going anywhere. I dont give a shit what Shane told you to do or not to do."   
Emma sighed in relief as Carol entered the room. "We're apparently in an argument over who gets to watch over Tara," she explained to Carol. She wouldn't be petty and go over everything that had been said, like a child would, but she didn't think it should be completely ignored either. "I was just telling her I'm sure it would be fine if we both did it." Quickly changing the topic. "How is Sophia and how are you?" She asked warmly.

Andrea opens her mouth right after Emma and then Carol cuts her off quickly.   
“Sophia’s doing good, still a little scared and worried about ‘miss dixon’ but we are alive. But I came in here to get some help putting up tents, but I know for a fact that Daryl asked you to stay with Tara . And thank you so much for it. I won’t stay long, me and Andrea will leave you to get some rest as well. I’ll bring you both some dinner later dear. “ she then didn’t give Andrea the choice. She grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room, and shut the door behind them.

"I'm glad she is okay," Emma replied, gently touching Carol's shoulder and squeezing it lightly.   
"Thank you," she said in response to Carol. Not only for offering to bring food, but also for getting Andrea out of the room.   
She laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. She knew she wouldn't sleep, she didn't need to. "Sorry I couldn't come find you sooner," she said. "I would have, but I couldn't leave Sophia out there."

A few hours after dinner was Brought to them is when Daryl had shown up again slowly slipping into the dark room. He sat his bow down by the bed and then sat close to Tara taking one of her hands in his. He then looks over to Emma giving her a grateful smile before his eyes dart away. "Sorry I was gone for so long. I didn’t mean to keep you inside all day with her. But thank you for doing it," he said softly.” I set up our tent. You can’t miss it. It’s by mine and Tara’s bike. I have checked everything out. You are welcome to sleep there. Only if you want too.” He said, giving a shrug.

"I didn't mind at all. Pretty uneventful for the most part." She smiled. "Andrea wanted to scare me off for some reason and take over, but after that all was quiet. Shes been sleeping the whole time." She looked over at Tara. "After everything that has happened, it's probably a good thing. Give her a chance to heal quicker."   
She took Tara's plate of food and handed it to Daryl. "Here." She said. "It's Tara's. I tried to get her to wake up to eat earlier, but she wouldn't budge. You should probably eat something."   
She stood up and moved to the chair.  
"I appreciate the offer, but I don't think I could sleep right now no matter what. If you want me too, I can stay and keep an eye on her so you can get some sleep in peace. Or I can leave if you want to be alone with her."

Daryl nodded to Emma and started to eat Tara’s food. Once he was done with it he sat it on the bedside table and nodded to Emma. "Then I’m going to get some sleep in while I can. Thank you again Emma." He then stood up and started to remove his weapons. Leaving then by his bow. He walked over to where Emma was laying early and lay down. Daryl’s arm brushing against Tara’s as he moved to get comfortable. And once he did that early was out like a light his arm still pressed up against Tara’s arm. 

There was a bookshelf in the bedroom luckily, so Emma took to reading while Daryl and Tara slept. Through the night, she would get up and check on Tara and then take her place again in the chair, reading Shakespeare. She had made her way through most of the plays when morning came. It must have been around 6am when she noticed Tara's eyes had fluttered open. "Daryl," Emma whispered, gently shaking his arm. "She's awake." She went around the other side of the bed and looked Tara over. "How do you feel?" She asked. It seemed like a dumb question, but hopefully the answer would be better than how one would feel after being hit by a truck. If she needed anything for pain though, she could go get Hershel.

She could feel her body slowly coming back online. God... what the hell had happened to her. She then moved her fingers then her toes. She felt the sharp pull on her left foot. Not broken, maybe badly sprained so that was good. Her chest hurt though, she took in a large breath. Her eyes then started to open, her hearing and vision came back online slowly. She then blinked a few times. Emma was there beside her, Daryl looking down at her from her other side. She then gave them both confused looks. She felt like she just got done sparring with Merle who won, and had beat her ass. But she seemed okay. Her eyes then widen and she starts to panic. She tries getting up gasping slightly as she moves her body the wrong way, sending pain through her chest. The girl!! Sophia.. how could she forget! She tried breathing through the pain. She could feel Daryl’s hand on the back of her neck while his other went to the side of her face trying to calm her. “t.. the girl...” she then looks up at Emma, her eyes wide with fear. She had to be alive.

"Don't sit up too quickly, you're injured." Emma said calmly. "Sophia's okay. I followed your tracks after Rick and Daryl came back and found her hiding...or I guess she found me. She's with Carol again. Everything's okay. Aside from your injury, you're good too. We're in the safest place we can be right now." She placed her hand on Tara's arm. "Do you need anything? Food? Drink?" She paused a moment. "Pain pills?"

She looked into Emma’s eyes as she told her everything going on. Daryl had moved off the bed once she calmed down and started to arm himself with weapons again. He looks over to Emma and Tara and stops at the door, looking at Emma. "I’ll get the tent ready," he said and then was out the door. Tara now laid back down moving her hand over her sore chest. "I’m fine.” She tells Emma and gives a deep breath, “I want to go to my tent, the bed's too damn soft.” She said with a smile, getting herself up, this time a little slower.

"I figured a soft bed would be a welcome change," she said with a smile. She nodded at Daryl, telling him she would stay with Tara while he did so. She frowned slightly at Tara though. "You would probably heal a little better in here and probably shouldn't move too much yet, but if that's what you want, I can help you get there." She gave Tara a bit of a once over and really took note of her hair.   
"Do you wanna get cleaned up first before going out? You took quite the tumble out there it seems. I think most of the forest came back with you," she smiled. They were all a mess, but with the scrape Tara got in she definitely had more dirt on her. No sooner than she had said it, the old man Hershel came into the room.   
"Ah, you're up." The old man said.  
"This is Hershel," Emma said, introducing him. She looked at Tara in the eyes softly, trying to tell her silently that this man was a good guy. "He's the one who bandaged you up. Another man found you. His name is Otis. He brought you back here after you went under."

Tara looked up at Emma’s she slowly moved her legs off the bed and looked around for her shirt. And then shrugged at Emma’s question. "Why get cleaned up if you're just going to get dirty again." Her lips moved into a slight pout like a child would. Once Emma had helped her put on her old shirt she looked up at Hershel walking in. She raised a brow as her eyes shot to Emma. She didn’t didn’t know this man, but Emma did. She took a calming breath and looked at her bare feet. She mumbled.” Thanks for... you know.. just thanks.” She then holds her hand up for Emma to take. "Sorry for taking up your room and the dirty sheets, but I’m going back to the tent. Emma could you...?” Help was left unsaid. But she was sure Emma would understand.  
“True," Emma replied, standing up next to Tara. "Thank you," she said to Hershel. "I'll come back later to wash the sheets," she promised. Hershel nodded in response. "I don't mind if you stay in the bed a bit longer," he replied.   
"That's okay," Emma said. "I think she wants to go to the tent to be with Daryl." She took Tara's hand, placing one to help brace her and lead her outside and to the tents. She took her to the place where Daryl said the tent would be by the bike and assisted Tara inside.

Tara hobbled out of the house with a nod. Once to the small campsite. It was far away from the others. But they had the tent set up. It held up to three people. Well, Merle was like two people. But they could all still fit. The fire was at a small blaze as some rabbit hung over the fire. Three chairs set up around the fire and tents. But Daryl was gone. She gave a soft sight and moved to sit in the chair close to the fire. “You know, you're welcome to stay with me and Daryl. You don’t have to be around all the Assholes down at the camp. You're too good for them anyways. You always know what you're doing.” She then smiles up at Emma. “I’m just going to stay here for a while. Go take care of yourself.” She gave Emma a rare smile.  
"I think I might," she laughed. "Knowing my luck Rick would pair me with Andrea and I don't think that would be a great idea. If you both don't mind of course. You two seem to keep your distance from everyone. I don't want to wear out my welcome."   
She sat down on another chair, placing her bag down next to her and her machete with it.   
"I'll stay for now. At least till Daryl gets back. I know he's worried about you. I don't wanna wind up on his shit list if I leave you alone right now."

Tara nodded to her in understanding. She moved a little to grab her Bowie knife, she unsheathed it and looked it over. Looks like her brother cleaned it up. She put the blade back and then sat back the knife now sitting in her lap. "I know Rick is good people but I do think he is naïve, and has a bleeding heart. But all the others, besides Carol and the kids. They are just dicks. Shane though, he’s going to become dangerous." She sighs then and closes her eyes. Just walking out here felt like it had drained what energy she had. “But you won’t wear out your welcome, you have done more for me and my brother than the group has and you haven’t even been here that long. Whatever you need, me and Daryl got you.

"He does seem like a nice guy," Emma replied about Rick. "I do agree though. I expected to be hounded with questions for trying to join in the group. I appreciate it, but I don't know. I'd almost be more wary over the living now than the dead. At least with them, you know what to expect. Living people were desperate before. I can only imagine now, when the world seems to have almost come to an end...at least humanity." She smiled. "You have nothing to worry about from me though. I'm happy to help where I can." She pulled out another bottle of Gatorade from her bag and handed it to Tara. "Here, you should probably at least drink something."  
“ thank you “

Tara looked over and nodded and took the bottle and then took a drink. And then put the cap back on.   
“I know, you are good people Emma.” She laid her head back on the chair and closed her eyes. And not only a few seconds later her body just went back into sleep mode. The warmth of the fire and knowing if she dropped off to sleep she wouldn’t have to worry about anything happening with Emma and Daryl around. The group could hardly be heard from the Dixon camp far away from the group but still close enough to keep an eye on.

As Tara fell asleep, Emma took the bottle from her and placed it on the ground. "Well that was fast," she whispered with a smile. She scooted down the seat slightly, closing her eyes. She didn't fall asleep, but it was so peaceful and relaxing out here on Hershel's farm, way off into the distance where no one would really come bother them. She wondered if Rick had asked Hershel if they could stay here for a few days or if he wanted Emma to do it, since she slightly knew him. As good of a guy she knew Hershel was, she wasn't sure if he would be comfortable with letting a bunch of strangers stay on his land, even if it was only for a few days. Like she had told Tara before, with how desperate humans were, it would be no surprise to her if he was cautious over him. All the same, it was nice to be in this familiar place. Close enough to her old house, but far enough away to where she couldn't see it and to where she wouldn't be haunted by the memories of her husband. She felt something wet trickle around her face and realized that she shouldn't have even thought about him. She opened her eyes and wiped the tear from her face and just sat there for a moment, listening to some birds whistling to the morning.


	3. Walkers In the Barn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Tara is feeling better, Emma asks Hershel if they can stay on the farm for a little while.   
> A reluctant Hershel agrees, but then they discover Hershel's reluctance on letting them stay in the first place.

Time slowly crawls by. Thirty minutes become an hour. And then an hour becomes two. Daryl finally makes his way up to the camp looking over the girls he moves over and gives a small grunt to not just scare the shit out of Emma. Once her eyes were open Daryl looked down where he was putting his crossbow. Sitting on the log closet to his sister.   
“I think Rick was asken for ya. But I told all of them if they stepped one foot in this camp they gone to get an arrow in the ass.” He then grabs the rabbit from the fire blowing on it to cool it down to eat. "You don’t have to hurry. They won’t come up here and bother you."

Emma sighed.   
"It's okay," she replied, standing up. "I'll talk to Rick. I have a feeling I know what it's about anyway." She looked at Tara. "She's been asleep probably about an hour or so now. I'll be back soon." She left her bag on the ground by the chair, only taking her machete with her and made her way to the house.   
It took a little while, but she finally found her way to Rick on the porch.  
"Daryl said you wanted to see me?" She asked, taking a seat beside the man on the porch swing.

Rick sat there when Emma showed up. He didn’t say much at first just gave a long loud sigh.   
“Yeah, sorry to ask, I was going to come get you but .. uh, I thought it would best not to go looking.” He gave a small chuckle as he looked over to Emma again. “I was hoping we can go talk to Hershal. I would rather you be there than Shane. Not like he hasn’t tried but only if you're okay with it?”

"Yeah that's probably a good idea," Emma said in response. "Daryl probably wouldn't have been too happy."   
Emma stood up. The moment she had been anxiously awaiting...the moment she had to ask Hershel if they could stay. It had to be done. This could mean life or death for the group.   
She made her way into the house and found Hershel sitting at the kitchen table. She sat down in the chair across from him.  
"How’s the girl?" He asked.  
"She's okay," Emma said. "She's getting some rest. She'll get there."   
She smiled at Hershel warmly. "I hate to ask, but I was wondering..." she looked to Rick. "We were wondering if we could stay here for a couple of days."   
"Well..."   
"Not in the house," Emma said. "Just outside. We can stay in our tents."   
"I guess at least till Tara gets better. I don't want any guns on my property though," he said, his tone and his expression serious.

Rick walked with her and stayed by Emma nodding. Ricks eyes widened as he said it and he nodded quickly.   
"Of course! Yes, this is your land, your rules. And if you need help with anything at all we will help. Thank you so much Hershal.” Ricks eyes watered, that would give them some much needed time to think of what to do. He would need to get Emma and the twins together and try to make a plan on what to do. He gave a small sigh of relief as he looked to Hershal again. “I have a guy that is going to make a run into town to get antibiotics for Tara, is there anything you may need?”

Hershal gave an exasperated sigh and stood up. There was a curio cabinet in the corner and he pulled out a notebook and paper and began scribbling various things on the paper.  
"There's a pharmacy in town," the old man said. "They should have some antibiotics there, other medications. Keep an eye out for these." He handed the list to Rick. "Remember, no guns."   
Emma looked at Hershal for a moment. 

"Do you mind if I make one further request? Maybe just one gun. Keep a look-out with a gun on the RV, just to try to keep everyone safe. It's scary out there right now," she smiled innocently.   
Hershal looked hesitant, but then nodded slowly.   
"Take Maggie with you when you go. She's had to go there before to get stuff and she knows what to get."

Rick smiles again at Emma fast thinking about the guns and pats Emma on the shoulder taking the list from Hershal. “Thank you so much, I’ll let Glen know. And let you know as soon as they come back. If there is anything you need please come get one of us. “He slowly walks out knowing Emma would follow him, he looks to her and speaks softly so as to make sure no one hears him. I need to meet with you and the twins. Just us though, would you mind letting Daryl know so he doesn’t shoot me when I come up?”

Emma followed Rick out of the house. "Thank you, Hershal," she said once more before exiting the house. She followed Rick down the steps. "Yeah," she whispered in response. "Meet me there in about 10 to 15 minutes. I would offer for us to meet somewhere else, but Tara shouldn't go too far probably."   
It didn't take her too long to make it back to Daryl and Tara's camp. She sat down next to Daryl.   
"Rick wants to talk to the three of us about something, so don't kill him if you see him walking up." She smiled. "I'm not sure what it's about, but we did talk Hershal into letting us stay...at least for a few days."

Daryl nodded to her and looked back at the tent. He had put Tara to bed and then looked back at the fire.” Nah, I won’t shoot him, but Tara is still down. We will just tell her later if there was a need to." He then smiles at Emma. "Good, that gives me time to hunt, get as much as I can and maybe start smoking it? The furs would be good come winter.” And then not 20 minutes later Rick is walking up the long stretch of land to the Dixon camp. His hands up and out clearing his throat to make his presence known. "Don't shoot” he tried to give a smile but he was kindof scared that Daryl would shoot him.

"That probably wouldn't be the worst idea," Emma replied. "The sooner the better, probably. Realistically, he probably won't let us stay forever. Maybe a few weeks, but he was very hesitant." Emma sighed. "Maybe once he gets to know all of us...and if all of us can respect his rules, we may be able to talk him into a little longer. I just hope he doesn't run into Shane or Andrea too often."   
She would have mentioned Lori too, but Rick was approaching.  
"Its okay, Rick," she told him with a chuckle. "You'll live to see another day." She took out a pack of ciggs from her duffle bag. This would be the first one she had in a couple days now. She handed one to Daryl. She breathed in the sweet taste of nicotine, feeling the smoke enter her throat and caress her lungs, the troubles of the past couple days ever so slightly ebbing away. "What did you want to talk to us about? We'll catch Tara up later."

Rick then moves over to sit on the other side of the fire letting the fire warm his skin. He gave a soft sigh and then nodded.” I needed to talk to people that know what they are doing. And know how to handle this..you three are smart, and I need help. Please. He looks back to them Daryl raises his eyebrow and then looked at Emma then back to Rick. “So, you want us to help you lead this group of idiots? I don’t know if Tara would take that well? Shane is a big issue.”

"I'll help where I can." Emma replied. "The only problem is, I'm new. Just in my short time here, I've noticed that about Shane. I know Andrea at least will listen to him faster than she will any of us. You need to find out who will be loyal to you."

Daryl nodded as well “Shane’s a dick. And next time he comes at mine I'm going to put an arrow in his ass.” He then pointed at Rick with a pissed off look. "Keep your friend on a leash office friendly. Rick swallowed slowly and nodded with a sigh. “I just want to keep my son safe, I didn’t really want to lead at all. But I think if it’s us we can do it.”

"Whether you want to lead or not, it's what was given to you. Rick, you have the makings of a good leader or else most of the people here wouldn't be following you." She thought for a moment. "I bet when you came to this group, Shane was more or less the leader and then suddenly, people started looking to you." She stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know you want to protect Carl, but I can see there's also a part of you that maybe hasn't completely come out yet, that wants to protect everyone else too. It's a lot of pressure. If you need help, I am more than willing...like I said though, these people don't know me. They dont trust me. I don't blame them. I'm happy to help you where I can though, but either way it goes, you are in charge. I'll follow you. I will NOT follow Shane though."

Daryl nodded with Emma and then looked back where Tara was sleeping. “Look I ain’t great and people me and Tara stay away from groups. I’ll start hunting in the morning and get everything I can. See if the old man has a smoker or see if we can build one. “ Rick gave a nod and the n stood up. “ good idea. I am going to see if I can get someone to go through everything and see what we have, keep a list so we don’t waste and have a system. And start training people with guns and knives.”

"Depending on time," Emma replied, "it probably wouldn't be the worst idea to train people on mundane items too...rocks, hammers, just small things like that would be pretty handy. Definitely guns and knives first though. That's top priority." She thought for a moment. "It probably wouldn't be the worst idea too to train the kids with them as well. Just to be safe. If something else happens, like what happened on the highway...they should know what to do. It's a very different world now. What Lori is doing is fine. Trying to teach them math and stuff, but it doesn't have to be done immediately. I can help teach basic first aid too."

Rick crosses his arms over his chest and nods and starts to leave. "Alright then. Let’s meet up in the morning and go over the plan and get everyone started. “And with that Rick starts back to camp Daryl then looks over to Emma and sighs.” I'm going to get a few hours before I head out. There’s rabbit if ya want some." He then stood and then went into their tent taking off his vest and laying down by Tara. Only close enough so their arms brushed lightly and he then drops off into sleep for a quick nap.

Emma nodded at Daryl as he went inside the tent. "Thanks," she said. She took a rabbit and began digging into it. The meal she had from the Greens was good last night, but it wasn't what she was used to anymore. This rabbit on the other hand sat on her belly nicely...although she still felt bad for the critter.   
After finishing her meal, she lay down on the ground, feeling the warmth from the fire. She felt comfortable right now. Safe. For the first time in forever. She closed her eyes, but kept her ears listening to everything around her, listening to the crackle of the fire and the voices from the other members of the group from a distance. She even hears as a couple of horses galloped. She opened her eyes and sat up for a moment, watching Glenn and Maggie riding off to town.

Right as two hours have passed since Daryl has gone off into the woods to hunt Tara is now up eating a well cooked rabbit. Her body still hurt, and breathing hurt a little but she would live. Her pa has left her in much worse shape before this, it was sad to say she was used to it. At least she was doing something good, she found the girl. Saved her. The pain in her body didn’t even bother her in comparison to knowing that. Her brother woke her before he took off to hunt and told her to go to some meeting with Emma. She almost told him no but she didn’t want Emma by herself with the group. She was a good person and she did a lot for her. So she told him she would. She then looked around for Emma.

Emma opened her eyes as Daryl left to go hunt and Tara stepped out of the tent. It appeared that it was about that time to go meet the others. Emma stood up.   
"Sorry," she said with a smile. "I was pretty down in the grass. Pretty comfy." She dusted herself off. "Are you sure you're up for this?" She asked Tara. "Not really getting over there, but dealing with everyone? You know everyone in the group is going to be hounding you to see if you're okay." She sat down in the chair with her duffle bag next to it and picked it up, setting it down on her lap for a moment. "Do you smoke too?" She asked. "I have extra. I found a few cartons awhile back and snatched them up."

She just looks at Emma for a minute still in her haze of sleep. But at the offer of smokes, she perked up her eyes brightened just a little as she walked over to sit by Emma nodding taking it when she offered it to her. Once she lit it she inhaled deep, feeling the drag pull into her lungs, the earthy smell of burning tobacco. Her eyes then closed as she stopped her breathing to keep the smoke as long as she could. Then she exhaled feeling the stress and anxiety leaving her body along with the smoke. The after taste still lingering in her mouth. ‘God she needed that.’ Her eyes then opened and shrugged to Emma. “ I don’t really care about them, but I’ll keep myself in check. And if it gets to be too much I’ll just tell ya that I’m hurting and we can leave.”

"Luckily for you, you can probably get away with just about anything and no one will say anything." She lit a cigarette for herself as well. They sat there in silence for a few minutes until they had finished their ciggs, then Emma stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She held out a hand for Tara. "You ready?" She asked.   
They walked through the field until they came to the main part of the camp, that was sitting under a small batch of trees in the shade. They had a fire there too. She assisted Tara in sitting in an empty chair and Emma stood beside her protectively.   
"Feeling alright, little Dixon?" Shane asked Tara. Emma glared at him and he looked away, taking a seat by the fire.

Tara looked over before he could look away. Her eyes narrowed and her lips dropped into a frown as she sat back in the chair, her body and muscles now tense and on guard. She didn’t scare her one damn bit. But right now she was just tired and her filter was off line. "Why don’t you go jump into a pit of walkers, and fuck off." Rick kind of stood there looking to Emma, then to Shane then to Tara. Rick slowly puts his hand on Carl’s shoulder and then sits down with his plate. Shane should have known better. If Tara and Emma ripped him a new ass then he would sit back and watch it happen. Shane was no brother of his, not anymore.

Emma stood there for a moment, looking from Rick to Shane. There was tension there, but she couldn't quite tell what it was. She watched as Shane finally sat down, looking away with something written on his face that almost looked like shame...almost but not enough for whatever it was. She took a moment observing everyone. She walked over to Rick, but it almost looked like it was out of duty and not out of support or love. "You can do it honey," she whispered in his ear. What a condescending bitch, Emma thought to herself. It may have been a whisper, but she whispered loudly enough for people to hear her.   
"What's up, Rick?" Emma asked with a slight smile.

Rick tries to hide the tight smile, he stays quiet when the words are whispered to him. He knew there was nothing in the words. He could feel it. Rick then looks up at Emma and right before he says anything a nervous Glenn steps forward, he was scared but he had to say something. “um guys... there are walkers in the barn,” his voice waivers as he then lowers his head. The whole camp stops, after hearing Glenn, Tara’s eyes slowly open as she leans forward. “ well... isn’t this fun.” Tara chuckled as she popped some deer meat into her mouth.

"In the barn?" Emma asks, her heart dropping. It explained so much. Why Hershel was so hesitant on letting them stay...why he was so adamant about not allowing guns on his property...  
Emma sighed, wondering if it would be better to go take them out or keep them where they were or to go straight to the source and confront Hershal about it. She looked at Rick, questioning like he could read her mind

Tara sat back in her chair as she finally finished her small slice of deer. She knew others needed to eat. The kids, so she would get something a little later. She had a feeling this new event was going to be a pain in the ass. Rick then stood up looking at Glen asking The Who’s and whys. Rick nodded after Glen had told him how he knew about the barn. He could hear his soon to be ex- wife freaking out the others now worried. He then stood and walked over to Emma and Tara, and clasps Emma on the shoulder. Then Tara. “Emma, would ya mind coming with me for a minute, we need to talk to Herschel. “Tara’s eyes then looked up to Emma, giving her a nod. Emma was better at talking with people.

She looked down at Tara sitting in her chair. "Do you want to come with or will you be good till I get back?" She didn't mind talking to Hershal but she wasn't sure about leaving her alone with Daryl gone. She knew the woman could handle herself, but with her wounds, she wasn't too sure about it. She went ahead and nodded at Rick. "Yeah, we definitely need to figure out what was going on."

Tara nodded to Emma and then brushed her fingers over her Bowie knife that was attached at her hip. And gave Emma a small smile, she had done so much to help her and her brother. And now she knew for sure she had this woman back. "I’ll stay, D should be back soon with some game, I’ll go and help him when he comes back.”


	4. Punchable Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finding out about the walkers in the barn, Emma and Rick ask Hershel if they can take care of the walkers, in order to protect their people.   
> While they confront Hershel, Shane makes a decision that could ruin everything for the group.

Emma touched her shoulder and looked at her with a serious expression. "If you need anything, just yell." With that, she walked towards the house.   
Once they had reached the house, Hershel was sitting on the porch.  
"Back again?" He asked, barely looking at them.  
"Hershel..." she said as calmly as she could, but she could feel her voice shaking, trying to hold back her emotions. "Why do you have those monsters in the barn?"  
"They're not monsters," he said, his voice slightly sounding like he had taken offense. "They're living beings and they're sick. They're the people we know and love and it's our job to help them."   
"They're not sick, they're dead. You can't fix them!" She could feel her voice growing louder. "You have a ticking time bomb on your land!"

Rick followed Emma to Hershel, Rick then listened to Emma as she explained. Rick then shakes his head and steps up. "Hershel, those things are not sick people. They are dead, we went to the CDC before we came here. There is no cure, there is nothing coming to help us. There is no government, no hospital, no nothing. We talked to the last man alive in the CDC and then it self imploded." Rick then took a step forward. “Hershel, I’m not saying this cause I want to. This is happening."  
Rick then looks back to Emma and sighs. "Please let us help, we can clear the barn, if those things get out, they will kill someone. And they will not stop."

"No, Rick. You don't understand. They are sick. They are our friends and they need our help." Emma looked at Hershel disbelievingly. "Rick is right. There is nothing you can do for them, but put them down. They are hungry, mindless creatures and if they get out, they WILL kill. Possibly everyone. Maybe no one." She took his hand pleadingly. "Please Hershel. We don't want to hurt anyone. We just want to protect the living...the ones who really need help."   
Hershel stood up from his porch swing.  
"There's no convincing me that those people don't need help." He said.

Rick gave a soft sigh. How in the hell was he going to talk him into it. He looks at Emma and puts a hand on her shoulder. “Hershel, please this -“and that’s when everything went to shit. There were kids crying and screaming, And then all noise was cancelled out by the sound of a range of gunfire. Rick's eyes widen and he takes off to the door and hurries out. Their group in a line keeping the walkers from the Greens home and the camp. Shane in front, and the rest in back. Tara held the shotgun piping off shots. She didn’t have a fucking choice, she was going to mess Shane's shit up when this was over. Not only the disrespect to the Greens but the kids are now huddled with their mothers crying. Oh.. she was going to hit something, and Shane had a very punchable face.

Emma stood up quickly after hearing the gun shots. She stared at Hershal for a moment, apologetically and then took off after Rick. She took her machete out and ran close to Tara.  
"What the fuck happened?!" She asked, closing her weapon right through a walkers head. From behind, one of them grabbed her and she spun around, shoving the machete up through the walkers chin and up into the brain. She pulled it out quickly.

Tara loaded four more shells and then cocked the gun taking a few more walkers down, one that was closing in on Emma’s left side without hesitation with a head shot, taking half the skull with it. Once all of the walkers had been put down Tara lowered the gun, it took her a few tries to get her breathing back under control. She looks over at Emma checking her over for any injuries. Once she saw she was fine her eyes narrowed sharply and her head whipped over to Shane and a low growl left her mouth. It could be heard by everyone with how quiet it was now. Her hands tighten on her shotgun and she starts walking with some speed over to Shane, no fear that he was taller than her and bigger, but her face screamed rage. “ WHAT THE FUCK OFFICER DICK!! I’m gonna stomp your ass!!" She growled out her shotgun coming down to her side and her fist came back, her body shifted to the left, her back foot moving to give more power to her arm. Then she throws her fist making a cringing sound as it follows through. What seemed like time stopping for that one second, and she felt a little satisfaction of hitting this asshole. Rick only gets there in enough time only to get in between them after she had hit Shane, his back to Tara as she took a step back. "I’m not done with the asshole, officer friendly!!”

Shane was caught off guard as the little Dixon attacked him. For an injured little girl, she certainly could throw a punch...or a few. "What the fuck Little Dixon?" He asked after Rick pulled her off of him. "I was just trying to take care of the problem."  
"No," Emma replied. "That's what Rick and I were doing you fucking asshole."  
Lori stepped in helping Shane up. "No you weren't. You two were trying to go on a whim and try to bribe Hershal. Thanks to Shane, we don't have as big of a problem."  
"Shut your whore mouth," Emma replied. Her hands were shaking. "We'll be lucky if Hershal doesn't kick us off his property now," she said through gritted teeth.  
"We could take this property easily from them if we wanted too," Shane said.

Rick looks at Lori, frowning and pointing at both of them.   
"This is his land, you try to take this farm from them, then I will not be held responsible for what may happen to you. Shane I don’t know what’s going on with you, but if we are not allowed to stay here because of what you did. That’s on you!" He then sighs and backs up from Shane. Tara growled once again, she was pacing side to side, gun still clinched in her hand, her eyes never leaving Shane's form, and keeping Emma and Rick in her view as well.   
“Maybe you should keep Shane company from now on. I’m going to go check on Hershel and try to do some begging, but you two need to leave now!”

Shane looked at Rick, taken aback. Rick didn't usually stand up to him. "We're not going anywhere. We'll get this figured out."   
"Then you should have sat you ass down instead of jumping the gun," Emma replied. She went over to Tara. "Are you okay?" She asked looking her over, hoping none of her injuries became worse during the fight. She had done a lot of healing over the past couple days, but hopefully Shane's dumbass didn't undo it. 

Tara slowed her pacing down and now stood close to Emma and nodded to her and moved up to where she was stabbed a few days ago, rubbing the bruised and stitched skin. She then looked at Shane one last time and spit at the ground close to his feet. And she snarled once more. “You stay the hell away from mine and mine or, “ her eyes hooded over her lips twitched into a curl smile and she dips her chin. "I’ll slit your throat where you stand." She then moves slightly, her arm brushing against Emma’s as she whispers to her. “You need me Em, come get me k? And don’t be alone with that dick.” She then moved her hand up to clap Emma on her shoulder as she turned to walk back to her camp.

Emma knew better than to argue and nodded at Tara. She knew Shane was a dick, but this was a stupid move even for him. He may not have liked the rules, but he knew how important staying here was. "Do you need help getting back to camp before I go with Rick to talk to Hershal?" She asked Tara gently.

Tara thought about it for a minute and gauged her body. She then shook her head slightly. “I’ll be fine, Daryl should be back soon. He’s going to need help with the kills. You and Rick try to buy us some more time to stock up. Just be careful, not just walkers we have to look out for." She clasps Emma's shoulder softly again and walks by Rick, her arm brushing his lightly. She had seen the looks officer friendly was giving her brother. She had been watching it for a while now. But for now he is part of the small group that she actually trusted. She then turns and starts back to their small camp, away from the others.


	5. Wounded Daryl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Shane's poor decision, Hershel disappears from the farm.   
> When Daryl comes back from his hunting trip, he is badly wounded. With Hershel nowhere around, they must rely on Emma and Maggie to take care of him.

Emma sighed at the stress of what had happened and the further stress of now having to go confront Hershel once more to beg him to let them stay at least for a little while longer. It would be no easy feat now. It was hard enough last time they begged him.   
They were about halfway towards the house when they heard a voice shout "walker!" Followed by a gunshot. Emma turned around and watched as a man went down. "Rick...I think that was Daryl." It was pretty close to the spot where he had first left to go hunt for food. Emma took off running, hoping that it wasn't.

Tara has started to get everything together when she hears that bitch screaming about a walker. She dropped her bolts and jogged over to the fence, removing her Bowie knife and then looked up at the blond bitch. "Put your damn gun down! I’ll go take care of it. No need for shooting off more and making more noises!!!" she yelled up at the blonde again and hopped the fence, taking off into the field, her stomach then started to drop.... something was wrong the closer she got, vaguely aware of Glenn and T-dog running not far behind, and she knew Shane was somewhere behind her. But she didn’t give a shit, her heart started to go into overdrive, her panic just about consumed her as she stopped in front of her brother, he looked so broken, dirty and bloody. Her eyes widen and she steps closer to him.... no... no not Daryl, she could lose Merle it would hurt but she would be ok, but not Daryl. She couldn’t, “Holy shit!! Is that Daryl!!” Glenn had yelled as they stopped in front of him, she stood there, knife out her breathing starting to slow down, once he spoke.   
“What, going to try and put me down lil bird?" he grunted out as his eyes locked with Tara, giving her an amused grin. He was hunched over blood slowly rolling down the side of his face and then he heard the sound of gunfire and his world went black as his body crumbled to the unforgiving ground. And Tara stops breathing her eyes widen even more and her lips start to tremble. She then drops by her brother as Tara’s tears start to roll down her face as she starts frantically checking him over, her hands cup his face and turn his head... just a graze...she then moved and takes off her tank top knowing that her two sports bras would be fine, she didn’t really give a shit. She then moves the fabric to her brother's head and puts pressure, while her other hand cups his cheek. “I got ya big brother." Glenn and T- dog move over to Tara to see what to do...   
Rick heard the shit as well and curses and takes off after Emma... what the hell was going on, he looks up at Andrea and then down to where he could see only three people standing, “What the hell?" he then takes off to the field where he saw Glen and T-dog.

When Emma and Rick finally made it to the others, she skidded to a stop. Her suspicions were confirmed. It was Daryl. She knelt down beside him. "Is he okay?" She asked Tara.

Once Tara heard Emma, she took her hand that wasn’t holding her shirt to her brother's head and wiped her face of the few tears that stained her face. She looked up to Emma, her panic and anxiety clouded her eyes. She shook her head as Rick stoops down on the other side, his hands moving over to cup Daryl’s face and moved the shirt up just to see the damage, and then pressed Tara’s hand back to it once he had seen it, his touch lingers as he check him over, looks like he was hit in the side with something, was there others out in the woods!?... he could think about that now, he had to get Daryl to Hershel. “T, help me get him up, we have to get him to Hershel, Glenn! Run ahead and find him, Emma! Get Tara up and moving!” As he was giving out orders T comes over and helps Rick slowly get Daryl up and started going fast but careful not to jolt the injured man around to much. Daryl’s head slowly comes up as they are walking and he speaks in grunts “I was kidding lil bird... damn..” his head then falls in the nook of Rick's neck passing out once again.

Emma nodded at Rick. She knew there was a leader in him, even though recently he had seemed a little quieter about it. She was glad to see that leader would come out if it were someone he truly, deeply cared about. She suspected with Daryl, it really applied. She stood up as T-Dog assisted Rick with Daryl. "Come on," she said gently to Tara, putting out a hand to her. "What the hell happened? We heard gunshots. I thought it might be him."

Tara looked back up to Emma and took a deep calming breath, her emotions were just raging so much shit in one day, how the hell did Emma do it. She then took Emma’s hand and helped herself up hissing a little as she did. Her other hand coming over to the stitched skin. Damn, she was doing too much... she then shrugged slightly. “Hell if I know... that blond bitch said there was a walker, told her to back off, that we would handle it..... that bitch shot my brother!” As she was saying it, it clicked into place for Tara, that cunt shot Daryl!!!! A fire started in her eyes as she looked back over to Emma.   
“That blonde whore shot Daryl!!!” She growled out, the tone promised death.  
"Come on," Emma said, leading with an arm under Tara's. She touched her shoulder with her other hand. "We can deal with her later. Let's go take care of Daryl first. He needs you right now." She smiled a little and watched as Rick and T-dog led Daryl to Hershel's house. "Although, I think he'd be just fine with Rick."

Tara then looks over to Emma then to the backs of the others that are trying to get to the house with her brother, a small smile passes over her lips as she looks back at Emma. She then gives a deep laugh, she thought she was the only one that saw it, but Emma may be catching on.   
“you see it too then? Thought I was the only one, but I’m not surprised you figured it out,” her voice the turns soft almost timid, she was really starting to see Emma as family she didn’t want her to shun her brother, but it had happened so much before, but most of the time there was more violence and a lot of broken bones.   
“It’s ....it’s not going to be a problem right?” She looks back over to Emma, as they start going after the group to the house, watching to see if Emma would be disgusted or fine with it.

Emma was almost taken aback. Then again, they were in the south, so she could see where Tara would worry about her judgement. She smiled warmly. "There's no problem. There never would have been anyway. Love is love. I would never judge someone over who they're attracted too."   
As they moved towards the house, Hershel's daughter Maggie came out and walked towards Glenn across the way. "From them, even if they may not realize it," she gazed and then relaxed her gaze to Rick and Daryl. "To them. It makes no difference to me."

Tara watches her as she speaks, seeing nothing but honesty and a smile crossed her lips as she then nods . She looks back seeing Maggie. Glenn finally gets to Maggie, still a little panicked. “Maggie!! Your dad, is he around! Daryl’s shot! Please.” He whispers hoping he would help, knowing that they were on rocky terms with the Greens because of Shane. Rick hauls Daryl up a little more to try and keep the unconscious man up, T also trying to keep him up. Rick looks up to Maggie. “Please, “ Rick asked her, almost desperate. Tara looks back to Emma as they get closer to them. “I’m going to run to our camp and grab a shirt. Stay with them till I get back?”

Emma nods. "I'll keep an eye on him," she replied in a small voice as everything became hectic once again. It seemed like such a long walk, but Emma knew they couldn't have gone very far.   
Maggie ran over. "Daddys been gone for awhile," she replied, leading them to the front door quickly. "One of the people in that barn was my step mom...once."   
They walked into the spare room and placed Daryl on the bed. She took off Daryl's shirt and looked at the wound. "He's lucky. It's not fatal. Came real close though." Emma sat down on the bed beside Daryl after getting a bowl of water, giving it to Maggie who gave her a knowing look.   
"Thanks," she said as she began to clean the wound. She looked at Rick. "Can you and Glen go get daddy?" She asked. "If I know him well enough, after today, he'll be at the bar in town thanks to that bastard, Shane."

Rick looks back at Emma and Maggie as they work on Daryl and nods to her before patting Glenn on the shoulder with a nod.  
“Let’s head out so we can get this done quickly. Emma?” He looks over at her and nods. “ mind keeping an eye on things? And if Shane steps out of line. You can you force. But try to keep Tara from killing him.” He starts walking to the door and stops right before he leaves,” or you know make sure no one finds the body.” He huffed out as him and Glenn took off to find Hershel. Tara comes through the door 15 minutes later a slight cleaner tank top (not much cleaner than before). a few people had tried to keep her from the room to give them more space to work on Daryl. But she just give them a chilling glare and told them to move in her best brother voice. No one tried to stop her then. She then walked into the room, her eyes slowly shifted to a sad look. Her brothers body covered in old wounds and scars. It almost mirrored her own. She goes over and sits in a chair close by. She looked to Emma her hand coming up as she bit at the skin of her thumb. “ he going to fine right?”

As Maggie continued working on the wound, Emma got another rag and began cleaning off his face. Something else had happened to him too out there. Aside from the gunshot wound there was some blood on his head and he was scraped up.   
She nodded to Rick. "I'll keep an eye on things. No problem." She couldn't tell sometimes if Rick just trusted her or if he was testing her with her being new to the group, but she had a feeling that he could use some sort of break from time to time. She could tell he was the one left making the hard decisions most of the time. She laughed when he said to make sure Tara didn't kill Shane. She knew right now Andrea would be the one to worry about the most right now, despite the trouble that Shane had caused. "Shame the barns cleared out. That would have been a great place to leave the body."   
After Rick left, Maggie and Emma were almost done with the wound. She hardly even noticed when Tara came into the room and asked if Daryl would be okay. She looked at Tara and smiled. "He's a bit banged up, but he will be fine," she replied.

Tara nodded to Emma and stayed quiet, she just watched over them as well as keeping an eye on the door. She was trying to think, Daryl was already busted up when he came through the trees. They were very good hunters, they were the predators of the woods, So what got the jump on him. The more she thought the more she bit at her thumb. The knock on the door was quiet, as T moved just a little to bring in more water and wash clothes as well as some first aid stuff that he had found. He moves over to set it near Maggie and Emma. “Figured you may need some more stuff. I tried to find some stuff you may need but even I wasn’t sure of where all he had been hurt.” T said setting the first aid supplies on the in table.

"Thank you, T-Dog," Emma replied, taking the supplies from his hands. "I don't think we will need everything, but this can definitely come in handy later, with how things have been going lately." Emma and Maggie continued working on Daryl, until finally they were satisfied. "Alright," she said matter of factly. "He'll be good, basically just have to wait for him to wake up now." She began packing her own medical supplies back into her duffle bag and put the rest on a bedside table for the time being. She stood up and paced around the room. Nighttime was falling again. She wondered where Rick, Glen, and Hershal were. They had been gone for hours at this point. She was growing worried, but knew if anything, they could handle themselves.

Tara stayed where she was, she had a good view of the door and windows and both her brother and Emma were always within her sight. She had so much going through her mind, she watched Emma pace the floor. Rick and Glenn had been gone a long time but this was the end of the world, maybe they got caught up, she then lets out a sigh, and looks back at Emma. “Hey, if you want to get a little sleep I’ll watch out for ya, wake you when Rick gets here? '' she asked softly. She knew Emma wouldn’t go for it but she wanted to offer something to help- and that’s when she heard the A vehicle coming closer to the farm house. Her head shoots up and she then stands looking out the window. Watching the SUV parking and then she saw Rick step out. “Emma, Ricks back.”


	6. A New Member

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick finally returns with T-Dog, Glenn, and Hershel, but also brings back someone else.   
> A hard decision needs to be made, but it is put off.

Emma shook her head in response. "Nah, who needs sleep?" She asked with a smile. She knew she would have to get a little bit soon, but now was not the time. "I wonder where they are?"   
No sooner than she had said it, Tara informed her that Rick was back. "Are you okay here for a minute, I'm gonna go meet them out there. See if everything is okay."

Tara nodded softly to her and smiled lightly. “Yeah, We will be fine, go ahead and see what’s up,” she then walked over and laid in the bed with her brother, “if ya need me ya come and get me okay?” 

Emma nodded then quickly rushed out of the house and made her way to the vehicle that Rick, Glenn, and Hershel exited from. The night time cooled the world down somewhat and Emma wrapped her arms around herself. She should have brought her flannel out with her. A mosquito landed on her arm as she approached the vehicle. She smacked it off. It was amazing how the damn things still existed, even at the end of the world. She locked eyes with Rick. "He's okay," she said, knowing he would want to know immediately. "What about you guys? You were gone for a while. Is everything okay?"

Rick turned to look at Emma as she walked over before he could even ask she had reassured him on Daryl. He then smiles at her and puts his hands on his hips with a soft sigh. “no... we ran into trouble.” Rick then looks over as T-dog opens the door and then pulls out a skinny kid.. he was tall with brown hair and was shaking violently. His head was covered and ear phones covered his ears. Rick looked back over to Emma and took a hold of her shoulder light and led her farther away from the people around the SUV. “He knew Maggie, and he knew where the farm was. I couldn’t let him get back to his people. I...-” he lets out a long sigh and drops his hands to the side. “I don’t know what to do...”

Emma watched the guy who was bound and frowned slightly. Although she couldn't see his face, by his body type she could see that he was pretty young. Probably a teenager or very early twenties. He was a kid. She shook her head. She could tell a tough decision would have to be made soon.   
"It's late." She said simply. "Nothing has to be decided tonight. We can keep him in the barn for now. Try to figure out what to do with him tomorrow. Maybe try to discuss it with the group." She knew where the decision would lie, especially with Shane and Angela, maybe even Lori, but a decision didn't have to be made right now. Everyone had the right to know what had happened at least.

Rick watched Emma as she spoke. He then nodded and let out a soft sigh. “You’re right.” He looked back over his shoulder and looked at T and Glenn. “Take him to the shed and lock him up. I want at least one person on guard. We will all get together in the morning and make a decision. Right now, everyone needs to get some sleep.”  
T nodded to Rick and slowly helped the kid up by the arm. The kid was in a panic and in pain, his head going side to side with painful pants and the question on what was happening. T then took him to the shed and locked him up and then locked the door, all without saying a word. Rick looked over at Hershel and Maggie and nodded to her. He looked back at Emma and then shyly looked away before cleaning his throat, trying not to look too worried. “So Daryl.. did he wake up at all?”

Emma watched somewhat sadly as they locked the kid up in the barn. She truly hoped the outcome would be good and that they could trust him not to tell his group where they were. She looked at Rick and smiled slightly as he asked about Daryl. "He's still asleep and out of it right now," she explained. "He'll be okay though. Lucky for him, Andrea is a terrible shot, so it wasnt fatal. He'll need some time to heal, but he'll live. Tara is with him now. Do you want to come see him?" Without really waiting for an answer she began walking to the house. She knew he would follow. He needed to see for himself that Daryl was okay.

Rick then started off after Emma casually. He would not turn down the offer to go see Daryl, just to make sure he was alright, that was all, at least that’s what he would tell himself. Once they get to the room, he lets Emma go in first. Once the door opens Tara’s head shoots up, and her body tenses up, until she sees Emma, then Rick. She then gets off the bed and walks around looking over the two. Reading their face as she went. She stopped beside Emma as her arms crossed over her chest.   
“Something wrong? You took your time getting back officer friendly.” She then moves her eyes over to Rick and his gaze never moves from Daryl’s sleeping form. Tara watches for a few more seconds as Rick opens his mouth to speak, Taras lips pull into a knowing smirk. “Nevermind, I’m too tired for that shit right now, me and Emma are burned out and I can’t sleep unless one of you are around. We are going to go get some rest.. I’m trusting you to look over my brother. For now at least.” She then turns and walks out of the room without saying anything else. Daryl would kill her when he found out, yet all it made her do was just laugh and think how red and embarrassed Daryl was going to be. She stopped right outside the house door and then leaned over the wooden rail. The darkness of the night had fully taken over. The moon hung high, while the stars danced brightly. To her, this was peaceful and yet she know it would not last very much longer.

As they walked into the room, Emma made her way over to Tara. She nodded in agreement. Sleep sounded good. Plus it would probably be good for Rick to have some alone time with Daryl, even if he was asleep.   
Emma walked out with Tara, trying not to laugh at the offer of Rick staying with Daryl. It was funny almost that he thought no one could tell what his feelings for Daryl were. She stopped next to Tara once they were outside. It was a peaceful night. Life on the farm almost seemed like nothing had changed about the world. Aside from the fact they now had a prisoner...and aside from the fact that Shane had released a farm full of walkers.   
"Are you okay?" She asked.

Tara gave a huffed laugh and the question. Her eyes didn’t leave the sky for a few minutes as everything ran through her head. The crickets and cicadas in tune with each other, she let herself process everything she could as she then gave a long sigh and looked down and over to Emma.” Honestly... I don’t know.” Her hands then move up and wipe down her face. Her eyes close as she sighs again only deeper. Her hands then hold onto the rail. “What about you, are you ok?” She really couldn’t answer, she really didn’t even know herself at this point. But Emma had been through just as much shit. After meeting her, she now saw her as a younger sister and she knew Daryl felt the same. She couldn’t find it in herself to put the mask back over to hide her emotional state from Daryl and Emma. 

She kinda laughed as well, jumping up onto the porch rail to sit. "I'm better off than I was last week. I'd probably be a goner by now if I hadn't found you guys...or if you hadn't found me I should say, since you kinda saved my life from those walkers." She wasn't sure when she had begun implementing walkers into her vocab, but she supposed after hearing it so often from the others in the group, it was easier to say than creatures or monsters. As much as she was better off in this group though, she did miss her husband. Hell, at this point, she would almost settle for seeing her dad again, even though she hated him. She smiled. "I wish my husband hadn't passed though. I think you guys would have liked him."

Tara’s eyes soften as Emma spoke, taking in everything she says. Her lips pull into a smile as she speaks of her lost husband. And then she nodded. “If ya man was anything like you, he would have been part of my family like you are, I have no doubt in that” She had never accepted anyone as family well.. Daryl and Merle that went without saying, maybe getting through the shit storm would be less hell if she had another family member at her and her brothers side.

She took out a cigarette as she sat there and offered one to Tara. She flicked the lighter, igniting her cigarette, sucking in lightly as the smoke filled her lungs. She exhaled slowly, as a plume of white smoke escaped from her lips, illuminated in the moonlight.   
"I appreciate that," she said. "I'm glad to have you guys as part of my family now." She laughed. "We'll have to find a bike for me too. We'll start a mini apocalyptic biker gang."

Tara took the cigarette and look to Emma with a smile, putting the butt past her lips and pulls in a draw of air to pull the sweet rush of nicotine into her lungs and let the short head rush consume her for just a few seconds, once Emma had spoken she looks at her and then busted out in a deep true laughter. Smoke mixing with her laugh. “hell ya we will. Can’t be a Dixon with no bike! “ she then bent over still laughing like mad.

Emma began cracking up too. "I'll have to get my last name changed legally too," she said through her laughter. "I could marry Daryl, but I dont think Rick would like that too much," she said halfway in a whisper. "God, someone is gonna think we're smoking something stronger than cigarettes."

Tara still laughing nodded and bent over the rail taking another drag and exhaling more smoke and laughs. “Yeah I think officer friendly may have something to say about that. God, I wish we were smoking something stronger.” She then slowly tried to calm herself down, she needed that greatly. “Let’s get something to eat and get some sleep, my ass is tired. Plus I have to go hunting in the morning, you and Rick I’m sure have a lot of shit to do. Just let me know what’s up after words.” She then started stepping of the porch slowly keeping a slow pace so Emma could keep up as she made her way to camp where she knew there was some food waiting thanks to carol.-

"You and me both," she replied. Emma climbed off the porch rail and dusted herself off. She picked up her duffle bag. Food and sleep were definitely in order. As was a change of clothes. Once they reached the camp, Emma wasted no time with changing her clothing. Once she was in a fresh clean set of clothing, she sat down with Tara to eat.

Tara was already eating, as she looked into the hot popping flames, she could feel the heat from where she sat, her mind going through everything that had happened. her stare unwavering. She was now lost within her own mind. She bit down on the side of her thumb. She stayed quiet as she looked out at the woods. She then sets down her plate on the stump and stretches out almost like a cat would. Her plate is still over half way full as she sighs once again. “ get some sleep Em. Tomorrow is going to be a shit show for sure.” Tara then turned and patted Emma’s shoulder and then turn to pass out in her tent.

Emma stayed up a few moments longer to finish eating and then smoked another cigarette. After she was done, she took care of the fire and went into the tent as well. It didn't take her long before she fell asleep. Her sleep was filled with a mixture of dreams, both good and bad, but not bad enough to wake her. The morning came soon. Her eyes fluttered open, the sun shining through the tent. She was nervous about today. She imagined Rick was worse off than her though, with all the responsibility of the follow through on his shoulders.


	7. Torture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lori needs to tell Rick something important. 
> 
> The Dixon's get more information out of the new comer. 
> 
> Emma witnesses the Dixon's dark side.

Tara was already heading out before the sun's rays touched the sky. The camp by the trees was a buzz of everyone getting breakfast and gathering around the fire. Daryl sat in a blue fold out chair with a plate of food. He had on his old white t-shirt that hid the white bandages not very well. He was still pale and his head was still wrapped. He was watching everything and everyone as he ate, Rick sitting at his left hand side eating as well. His lips pulled up into a shy half smile as he looked away from Rick. Going back to his food, he knew a little about what was going on but not much. But he would back anything Rick and Emma wanted to do.

Emma looked over to Tara's side of the tent and noticed she was gone. Probably went off early to get started on the hunt before it got too late. Emma stood up, she had slept in the same clothes from the night before, so it was a simple matter of putting on her boots and grabbing her duffle bag. Everyone was already gathering by the time she got there. Emma noticed Daryl up and about and walked over to him and Rick. As she walked over she heard Shane behind her. "Good morning, sleeping beauty." All in all she ignored him, but couldnt resist flipping him off as she walked by. He made another comment about the kitty having claws but she ignored him. "How're you feeling?" She asked Daryl as she sat down on the ground beside him. She rummaged through the duffle bag for a moment once she was seated comfortably and pulled out antibiotics and some pain pills and offered them to him.

Daryl was the first to spot Emma as she walked in, his eyes narrowed in on Shane and gave a low scoff after he spoke. As Emma sat down he gave a soft smile as he took a hold of the antibiotic.” The pain is not bad, I’ll be fine with just these.” Rick looks over then and frowns lightly. “Are you sure? If you're in pain then take them” Daryl gives a cocky huff. “I’m a Dixon, Officer. Our pain tolerance is through the roof. I don’t need them.” He then looks back at Emma with a shy smile. “Thanks though.” Rick sighs softly and then looks at Emma. “So, any ideas on what the hell we should do about the guy?”

"No problem," she replied, putting the pain pills back in her duffel bag. She would need to restock on her medical supplies soon. Within the past week, she had used them more than she had needed to when this whole thing started. She looked up at Rick when he spoke to her. "I mean...there's not a lot we can do. We can let him go in good faith. May be able to threaten him into not telling. We can try to get some answers out of him to determine things about the group to see if we have anything to worry about. We can leave him stranded somewhere and let what happens, happen...or we can take extreme measures." She paused for a moment. "Or we can let him stay on the farm and have him show us he can be apart of the group." No matter what decision was made, no one was really going to win.

Rick listened to Emma as she gave out ideas. They was all there. He felt bad for the kid, he seemed innocent but there was something off about the kid. Rick ran a hand through his hair and looked out to the group, still only talking low to Emma and Daryl.   
“The thing is, this group that he was with. We can’t let them find us. We need answers but he’s not going to be truthful about it. I-“ Daryl then cuts off Rick. With a small wave of his hand. “ I’ll do it. Just keep everyone away from the shed. “ he then stood up and started to take the dressing off of his head and tossing it on the chair, Rick then gets up putting a hand softly on his shoulder.” Do you think that’s a good idea? Your still hurt made be some one else should.” Daryl looked at Rick then back at Emma shaking his head. “Nah, it has to be me. Shane goes too far and would kill him, you have most of that group looking to you, and there is no way in hell i'm letting Emma do it. Not like I haven’t done this before.” He said tone turning colder as he spoke, his mask falling into place.

Emma frowned at Daryl. "Whether you've done it before or not, you could end up straining yourself and busting something open again." She smiled slightly. "Maggie and I worked really hard getting you patched up last night." She glanced over to Rick. She had a feeling trying to persuade him wouldn't work. The Dixon line was stubborn, that much she had learned. As they spoke, Lori walked over, her hands resting in her back pockets awkwardly. "Rick, can you get a move on, on this. I need to talk to you about something."

Rick took a calming breath and ran a hand down his face. Emma was right, he was still hurt but Daryl was right as well. His eyes then shifted over looking over their shoulders.   
“Then I’m not going to stop you but you take Tara with you. I don’t want you to hurt yourself even more. And Emma is to stand guard. If something goes wrong she can act how she sees fit.” Daryl looked back to Emma then over to Tara and he nodded. “That’s fine,” he then scoffed a small laugh. “You think I’m scary...” and he left it at that as he started off to get his twin at a slow pace. Rick then looks at Emma and nods.  
“Are you ok with this? I’m sorry I didn’t ask beforehand and if you're not comfortable with it I can send T. I would go but I have to take care of something.” In his reference to Lori.

"Its fine," Emma said with a nod. "I'll keep an eye on things." With that she got up and went after Daryl. She wasn't sure about wanting to be in the middle of Daryl and Tara with the kid, but she had a feeling that anything Lori was about to tell Rick, she didn't want to be involved with. "We'll let ya know when we're...done."   
When the others had gone, Lori went up to Rick. "Can we talk somewhere private?" She asked him, looking down at the ground awkwardly, kicking her boots against the dirt.

Rick nodded and started walking to the fence post. Away from the group he then turns around and looks at Lori. “Yes, what do you need Lori.” He would be civil to her. She was the mother of his son.   
By the time Emma got to Daryl he had just got done speaking to Tara. She knows what has to be done, she hates doing it but when it came to things of this nature, the twins were scary good at getting information. She just wished Emma didn’t have to see something like that. A peek at a monster she keeps hidden under lock and key. But she knew Emma could take it, Tara just didn’t want her to be afraid of her after words. Daryl then turned to Emma.   
“Listen, stay outside the shed and don’t come in unless you think you need to. We’ll take care of things.” Tara then looks over at Emma, her mask slowly slipping into place to get into her role.

"Rick." Lori paused, trying to find the courage to tell him what needed to be said. After she found out Rick was alive, they had been fully together again, almost like when they were newly weds, but after he found out about Shane, everything had changed. Even so, she had to tell him that she was pregnant. She still cared about Shane, but she hadn't slept with him since she found out Rick was alive. She wanted to, but it just felt wrong with him right in the camp. Her and Shane had discussed running off together many times, but hadn't quite found the right opportunity. Her big issue was, she didn't want to leave Carl. She didn't want to take him away from Rick either. Shane had been a good stand in while Rick was gone, but he was too young. He wouldnt understand why all of a sudden they were leaving without his daddy. Wouldn’t understand why Lori and Rick didn't want to be together anymore. Now everything would change. How could she tell either of these men that she was pregnant, but she wasn't sure which of them was the father? Especially since she had slept with them both around the same time. "Rick," she finally said again. "I'm pregnant." 

Emma listened to Daryl. "Got it." She said. "If I feel like it's too much though, I'm going to come in. Like, if I think you're going to kill him or something." It was a slight joke. She knew they said they were used to doing stuff like this, she wasn't sure how far they had gone or if they knew when to stop. She did have to tell herself though, that they weren't her dad, who definitely wouldn't know when to quit, and she certainly trusted them more than him. She nodded. "I trust you both." They made their way to the shed and Emma stood outside the door, leaned up against the outside wall.

Rick looked up at Lori quickly, his mouth hanging open, not even sure that he had heard her right. There was no way.   
“You’re... what…?” He knew that at this moment he was going to be a dad even though there was a 50 percent chance that the baby was not his. It still made his lips twitch into a smile, it was a baby after all. Then it clicked.  
“But you don’t know if it’s mine?” He asked carefully. 

Once the door shut behind them the twins both had their Dixon mask in place. Daryl began his part. Walking slow to stand in front of the guy jerking the bag from his head. The heat in the little shed intensified it seemed. Tara says nothing as she pulls the chair by the door and places it in front of the guy but far enough away to let her brother do his thing. Her brother was scary when he was like this. His eyes held madness and the small thrill as he looked at the guy and kneels down. His voice held a tone of no emotion. “I’m not a patient guy. I’ll only ask once. How many in your group.” Daryl then stood and stepped back. Tara sat on the chair backwards and rested her arms on the back looking slightly lazy but with the aura of a dangerous predator. The kid shook his head.. “Look ...I don’t know they left me.” And with that Daryl through his fist straight at the guy hitting him and forcing his body to the side. The guy gasps at the shock of it and spits out some blood. Now shit just got real.

Lori looked down at the ground once again, almost more ashamed. This almost would have been easier, had he been angry. "I don't know," she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I thought about getting rid of it. I took the pill and everything, but I couldn't do it. I didnt want to hurt either one of you. I thought it would be easier. That and look at this world we live in now. What chance does this baby have with us being on the run all the time?" She paused for a moment taking in a quick breath as the tears streamed down her face. "I haven't told Shane yet. I wanted you to know first." She turned to face another direction, wiping the tears from her face quickly. "For what it's worth, I am sorry. I never meant to hurt you. Never meant to fall in love with him. I hope you know that. Even before all this shit started and all hell broke loose, some part of me knew I think that we wouldn't last, but then you got hurt and I thought you were dead once all this started, and Shane really stepped up, you know?" She hadn't really felt this bad about it until she found out that she was pregnant and it was like something awakened inside of her, or maybe it was just hormones. "When I found out you were alive, I was so happy. I thought it was our chance to start over, but the feelings for him didn't go away and I'm so sorry about that." She stopped. She was done. She didn't know how Rick would react to this information overload, but it should have been said a long time ago. "I hope one day you can forgive me and I want you to know that you do deserve happiness. Don't wait until it's too late to tell Daryl how you feel." She began walking back towards the house, not saying another word.

Emma twiddled her fingers listening to the commotion from inside the shed. She listened as the boy talked and Daryl she assumed punched him or something. It was more than a little uncomfortable to hear, but she kept her ears open and her mouth shut listening to anything the boy had to say.

Rick kind of stood there and then rubbed the back of his next as he started back to camp. Now a lot more on his mind. But it went well.  
Daryl kept at it, soon he got a little more personal, removing his large Bowie knife and jumped at the guy, his knife sticking into the wood between the guys legs and then Daryl shot his head up fire and darkness in his eyes as he yelled.  
“How many!?!?” The guy yells out then.   
“Thirty!! Thirty guys!!” Daryl then takes a hold of his knee and rips off the bandage over his wounds   
“Where!?!” His voice drops an octave, but his yell was loud. He moves his knife over to the wound. The guy starts to panic.  
”I ...I don’t know!!! I swear I don’t know!! We were never any place more than one night!!” Daryl then meets his eyes, never letting his eyes leave the guys.   
“Scouting!!! Planning on staying local!!” As he speaks Daryl’s knife digs deep into his wound. The guy shakes his head and yells out.  
“I don’t know man !! They left me!!” Daryl snaps back at him.” You ever pick off a scab?” the guy just wimps a ‘please dont’ as Daryl’s knife goes deeper. “Sooner or later you just have to rip it off..” He growled, and then the guy's tone changed.   
“Ok !! Ok!! They have weapons!! Heave stuff man. Automatics.”  
“Your boys shot at my boys !!! Tried to take this farm!! You just telling me you just were along for the ride!!” He yelled and now the guy yelled back.   
“Yes!!!! They took me in, and it’s not just guys a whole group, men women and kids too!!” At this time Daryl pulls back and Tara’s head moves a little now paying close attention to the guy. “But just the men go out to scavenge, one night the guys came up on this farmer and his two daughters, real young... real cute.” At this time Daryl slowly turns back around a new kind of fire taking over. Tara body slowly started to stand her eyes now locked into the guy she could see where this was going, and nothing pissed her off more then something like this. Her hand gripped into a fist as she moved to stand next to her brother.   
“Their daddy had to watch as these guys.... they, they didn’t even kill him after words.they just made him watch his daughters...then they just left them there.” It was just a flicker of a smile on the guys lips, and his eyes widened and looked up to the rage of two pissed off Dixons. “No.. but I -“ his voice was cut off into a whimpering moan as Tara rear-backs her booted foot and kicks the guys injured leg.” Daryl now steps to the side as Tara rains down her anger. Hitting the guy four more times and then kicking at his stomach twice. She took a deep breath as she back away and spit on the ground by the guys face. She slowly calmed herself as she then walks to the door throwing it open and storming out Daryl walking out as well and looks to Emma and then down quickly. “I’m sorry.”

Emma sat down on the ground listening to the conversation, taking mental notes on everything the kid said. For the most part, it sounded like a group like them, just a little more violence involved. As he began telling his story about the teenage girls though, she felt her stomach drop. Especially when he called them real cute and then later paused before saying that he never touched those girls. With barely a thought she stood up. She wanted to go in there and punch this assholes' lights out, but it sounded like the Dixon's were taking care of it. Right before she opened the door though, Tara came out and apologized. She could tell Tara had taken what the kid said to heart and she could tell a good bit of the beatings that followed came from her. Without saying anything for a moment, she hugged her. "What the hell are you apologizing to me for?" She asked. "He deserves whatever he got and more." 

Tara let out a deep sigh. Her eyes gazing over her bruised knuckles, she flexes her fingers feeling the pull of bruised skin. She pushed everything back into a small iron box and locked it away deep inside. She took one more deep breath and opened her eyes. She then turned to Emma and Daryl before locking the doors. Her brother moves over and scoops up his crossbow and slings it over his shoulder. He takes a deep breath and looks at both Emma and  
Tara, giving them both a soft nod.   
“Alright, let's go tell officer friendly what’s up. And then I’m done for the day...” he then starts walking back slowly with the girls stopping only a few seconds in.” Hey Em, you have a smoke on you? “ Tara stops beside both of them and raises her brow in question as well, her and her brother must have some freaky twin mind link.. cause she was just about to say it out loud. -

Emma had left her duffle bag back at the camp before she left, but she always kept a pack on her. She pulled a pack out of her back pocket and luckily for the three of them, there were three left. She handed one to Tara and then one to Daryl and then took one for herself. She offered the lighter to them first, figuring they needed it more than she did.

It was like watching a mirror image as the both thanked her and lit up there cigarettes, inhaling at the same time and the twin look of calm bliss that overcame over them. Taking in the silence for a little long before everything turn into a shit show. Daryl started walking Tara fell into step beside Emma letting Daryl take the lead, taking a slow walk so they could smoke before they got to the others. once they got to where the camp was he saw Rick nod his way and he gave a nod in return. Daryl stop a few feet away hands gripped on the strap of his bow. He then looked over to Rick.” Guys got a gang, 30 guys.... they roll through here are boys are dead, and the woman.” His eyes fall to the side to look at Emma and Tara his words then turned into a growl as he snapped them out.” They going to wish they were. “Tara looks over to the group and then looks away. Her arms crossed over her chest. 

Emma nodded to Rick in agreement with Daryl. "If we let him go, I dont think hes going to be very cooperative with us. I think after what I heard today, he would lead them back here." Emma looked down. She was not an all powerful being or some higher power. She hated the idea of deciding if someone would live or die. "Its up to you, Rick, but as far as I am concerned, he deserves whatever he gets. Hes a fucking dick." She shook her head thinking of those teenage girls. She wondered for a moment if their group had killed the girls after they were done hurting them. She wondered if they had bothered even shooting them in the head afterwards. If the father was forced to sit there with them dead until he starved to death or if they allowed the girls to turn so that they could kill him in turn. She huffed, part of her was curious and then there was another part that didn't want to know. For a moment she thought of the gun that was in the holster at her side. She touched it almost instinctively and then turned, wiping a tear from her eye quickly and then began walking back towards the shed.

Carol looks over then as they all speak her eyes widen as she sees the shape of them.” What did you do?” She asks, half afraid pulling her little girl tightly to her, Daryl doesn’t miss a beat.   
“we had a little chat.” and with that he turns and starts walking back to their small camp away from everyone, Tara got on his hills. Rick sigh and looked down thinking everything over,” alright then, I’ll take care of it. “ he looks to the rest of the group and turns to walk after Emma. He started to jog to catch up to her. Slowing down, when he came closer.” Hey, Emma... you ok? I know this is a lot, and intense. Are you going to be ok with this? I mean I have never really... ya know..”

Emma gave a slight laugh. "Am I okay? Yeah. Those little girls he talked about aren't though thanks to him and his group." She ran her fingers through her Auburn hair, almost ready to pull it all out. "They're monsters, Rick, but what are we if we do this thing? Who are we, if we decide to end someone's life that's not ours to take. I've never been so conflicted, but at the same time, we'll be getting rid of one less evil in the world." She stopped in her tracks. "This new world sucks, but at the same time now, it's all about survival." She touched Rick's arm. "Of course, you haven't," she said. "At least I hope you never had the occasion to do so." She sighed. "Maybe we should put to a vote with the group. It shouldn't be based off of you and I alone or Daryl or Tara. There's other people here who have a voice. Let him go or let him die. It can't be that easy to end someone's life, right? Easy peasy." She sighed. "Anyway, you shouldn't have to handle this on your own. After Lori spoke to you, I imagine you have other shit to deal with. What's going on? If you don't mind my asking. If you do, you can say it's none of my business and you wont hurt my feelings none."

Rick listened to Emma and nodded. She had good points, very good points. He was conflicted as well. He knew this was the new world and everything ran different now. He then sighs and looks over to Emma as she asks her question about him and Lori. He then shook his head with a small smile.   
“No, your fine Emma. You are one of the people I truly trust. Not like you wouldn’t find out soon enough, but.. Lori is pregnant.” He then looked up to Emma with a sad smile. “ 50 percent chance it’s not mine. I.. just I don’t know.” He then runs his hands through his hair the same as Emma had done the stress and overwhelming feels now could be seen. “ Why do they follow me, I just wanted to make sure my boy was alive and take care of him but a whole group.. I never signed on for all this.”

When he said that Lori was pregnant and that the baby may or may not be his, Emma immediately hugged him. The sad look behind his eyes was upsetting. "I don't know if I should say I'm sorry or congratulations, but I do know that no matter the outcome, you'll be a great father." She released him as he began talking about how he never signed on to be the group leader. "You suit the role," she replied. "Great leaders don't ask for it. They are better leaders when they are chosen and you were chosen. I can see where Shane wants to be a leader and because of that he is reckless and I'm sure other deep seeded issues probably caused that. He is pigheaded. He is cocky and he is jealous. As far as he is concerned, you are still a threat to him. You have become the leader when he thinks it should have been him and for better or worse, at the beginning at least, Lori did choose you over him. You need to watch your back. He wants to be you and he wants to take over Carl and Lori, and that means eventually, you two are going to square up and I don't know how it's going to end." She didn't know where all of that came from, but something about Shane scared her in a way. There was something unpredictable about him.

Rick had hugged her back giving her thanks for what she had told him. It boosted his confidence up just a little. And she was right about Shane, the twins had always had a thing about him, and he trusted the way they could tell who was good and who was shit just by looking at them. Emma seemed to have this trait as well and he nodded. ”Yeah, I’m not sure what to do about Shane, I mean he's my brother.. or at least was, I thought I could save him somehow but it seems he is digging himself deeper. I’ll watch my back, you watch yours, tell the twins to just stay away from him, we don’t need another fight, with everything going on. I’ll have everyone else think on this and we will meet in the farmhouse at sunset and go from there.” He then put his hand on Emma’s shoulder with a small smile. “Thank you Emma. There are not many people I can talk to like this and they keep a level head.”

"He's not the person you knew before," Emma replied. "Just remember that. I'd hate to see something happen to you." She nodded in agreement. She would tell the Dixon's to try to stay away from Shane. She had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that something bad was about to happen and maybe that's why she was a little more emotional than normal, but at the same time, a lot had happened over the past few days...hell over the past few weeks. "Just get everyone else together and I'll tell Tara and Daryl."   
She smiled at his final comment. "For better or worse, I've got your back, just like I have Tara and Daryl's. We'll figure something out."

Rick gives her one last smile and nods to her “ thank you.. so much, and know I got yours and the twins as well. Be careful. “ with that Rick turned. And started back to what was left of the camp.   
The twins sat at their small fire pit, Daryl eating his rostered squirrel on a stick taking care to spit out the bones. Tara had half a rabbit tearing it apart with her fingers before eating it. The other half sat on a plate close to the fire, thinking it would keep it half way warm for when Emma came up. But for now they stay quiet enjoy their food in the silence of the outdoors.

After Rick left her, Emma made her way to the campsite where Tara and Daryl were sitting and eating. "Hey," she said sitting down on the ground by the fire. "Rick wants us to meet with him and the others at the farmhouse at sunset," she informed them. She looked at her hands for a moment. "One day you guys are gonna have to fill me in on your previous torture experience and the why. Not really something on most people's resumes." She didn't say it in a judgemental way at all. "Sorry, probably a bit of a rude question. Just curious. It's just a little obvious that it's not the first time."

Tara gives a short laugh and Daryl just smiles. She then moves around and grabs Emma’s plate and hands it to her. “nah, don’t be sorry. Just ask and we will tell ya if it’s too much... as for that, let’s just say that’s what we had to be to survive before the world went officially to hell.” Daryl nods softly. And spoke up.” We never enjoyed it, but it was necessary if we were going to live. “ Tara nodded sadly at that and took a little more food before she spoke. “And sometimes that pasts flares up with a trigger, and well that guy in there wasn't even close to what we can truly do. “ Daryl scoffs softly. “Not like he didn’t deserve it.”

Emma took the plate. "Thank you," she said with a smile. She listened as they spoke and told her a brief version of their story. "Just don't want to dig too much into your personal life if it's something you don't want to talk about it." She took a bite of her food before continuing, making sure she had swallowed the bite before speaking. "I'm sorry," she said. "That's a rough way to have to survive. I'd love to say I understood, but I got lucky. I probably would have been in a similar boat if I hadn't left home when I did. Daddy was getting worse as time went on." The word daddy was said sharply and sarcastically, laced with hatred. "Granted, I still had to do some shit I'm definitely not proud of to be able to survive on my own when I left, but that's another story for another time."

Tara nods to Emma in understanding, they had to do some bad shit as well so they know.” So Rick wants us to vote to kill the guy or set him free. ? “ Daryl lays back and huffs. “ please .. this group is so broken it won’t do any good. All that’s it’s going to do is prolonged the unavoidable.” Tara then stretched her arms over her head as she stood, finally done eating. She then moves over and hits her brother on the shoulder..” get some rest. One of us will wake you up when it’s time. “ She then looked at Emma. “ I have a few things I have to look in on and a few things to do before dark. I’ll be back here before sun down... be careful Emma, and don’t you do anything stupid!!” She told Daryl glaring at him... he only waved her off as she left the dixson camp.

Emma nodded in partial agreement to Daryl. "The group is broken and it may not make a difference at all, like I told Rick, there are still other people in the group who have a voice. People who don't usually speak up and give their opinions. Taking this assholes life shouldn't be up to just us if we're going to do it. Either way, I guess we will see." She finished her meal shortly after Tara took off and then ran in the tent real quick to grab her duffle bag. She laid the bag on the ground outside and then laid on it. It felt good to lay down outside, listening to the flames crackle. It was peaceful which was nice with the day they had so far.

It was very nice out Daryl was close to dozing off listening to the fire and the crickets that were close by. He then closed his eyes, and let the darkness of sleep take him and rest his healing body.


	8. The Broken Group

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group gathers to make a decision over what to do about Randall.

At sundown, most of the camp was already in the house to come and vote, the Greens living room was very big, and Rick knew it would hold everyone. After sending his son and Sophia up the stairs to play, the soft chatter of the group calmed him down a little, but he wouldn’t fully relax until Daryl was here... Emma and Tara too of course. His eyes turned to Shane then back over to where Glenn and Hershel were and stood beside them.   
“So what do you guys think about this.” He wanted to see where he was with them. He hadn't got to spend a lot of time with them due to everything going to shit. But he would try.

Glenn looked down at the ground. Dale had been going to most of the members of the group that day to try to convince people to vote for Randall to live. Most that he had spoken too had agreed he was better off dead. Glenn had at first sided with Dale. As he thought of it more and more though, he wondered if he was making a mistake and voting for the wrong side. "I don't know yet," Glenn replied, standing off to the side, close to Maggie. Hershel didn't really say much. He was a man of God and it was up to him whether or not this man should die. "Tonight's vote will decide," he replied simply. 

Emma's eyes fluttered open. It wasn't quite dark yet and the sun was just barely going down. Swirls of pink, orange, and blue filled the sky. She raised up from the ground. "Hey, Daryl," she said to the sleeping man. "It's time to go." She touched his arm gently, in case just speaking didn't work for waking him up.

Daryl’s eyes then open as he looks over to Emma and nods, sleep still hazing over his mind. And he gives a small grunt to Emma before getting up.   
“Then let’s get going and get it over with.” It didn’t take him long to arm himself with his weapons and then he turned, grabbing his bow, waiting for Emma to get everything she may need, and then they made their way to the farm house, where some people were milling outside the doors or already inside. Tara was sitting on the porch rails, her crossbow propped up beside her. She had gotten here a few minutes earlier, and she refused to speak to anyone other than Rick or the Greens. Until she had seen her twin and Emma walking up. Her lips pulled into a slight smirk. “You look like shit big brother.” He looks at her as he steps onto the porch, as he scoffs out his come back.   
”Better than you.” 

Emma laughed lightly at the twins remarks to each other and shook her head slightly. "You two are so nice to each other!" She sat down on the porch steps for a moment, waiting on the rest of the group to show up before going inside. She let out a slow breath and then stood up, the porch creaking beneath her black boots. It was mere moments before she found herself in the large living room of the Green's house. She leaned up against the wall and put her bag on the ground and crossed her arms. She saw Rick talking to Glen and Hershel and walked over to him, too nervous to really stand around in one spot, but not wanting to look like a spaz and pacing the room. "You good, Rick?" She asked.

The twins walked in the house behind Emma, both of them leaving their bows outside as they came in. Daryl moved to lean on the wall closest to the door and Tara moved slightly only to sit in a chair that was by him, pulling one leg up close to her chest as he arms wrapped around her leg. The twins didn’t speak, Daryl’s eyes close to the chatter of the room and Tara kept her eyes open watching everyone.. 

Rick turned to Emma as soon as she said something and he gave a smile of relief.  
“Emma... yeah I guess, just want this over with,” he then turns and looks at the others once everyone is there. He gives a long sigh and walks so he could be heard.” Ok, if anyone has anything they like to say, then go ahead, we will talk about the options as we go.” Rick the looks at everyone in the room to wait and see if anyone had anything to say.-

Shane was the first to speak of course. "The most important thing is the group. I don't like this anymore than the rest of ya'll, but it's gotta be done." Emma rolled her eyes. She wasn't surprised though. She knew almost everyone here would be thinking it. Dale was the next to go. "We shouldn't do this. He's a human being. If we kill him, then we're no better than that group we're so afraid of. Someones gotta agree with me here." He looked helplessly around the room. He glanced at Glen for a moment. "Glen? We talked about it before. Don't you think we should give him a chance?" Glen sighed and shook his head no. Dale looked like someone had shot his favorite puppy and he looked around again. For a moment, his gaze lingered on Emma. She hated to cause the man anymore pain than he was already in, but she couldn't agree with him. "I'm sorry Dale, but far be it from me to agree with Shane about something, but in this case, he's right. We gotta protect our own." Dale looked around again waiting for someone else to respond. "I can't believe you people. We could have someone with him. Give him a chance and see how he does." Shane interrupted quickly. "Alright, say we give him a chance. He does well. What's to keep him from building up our trust and then running off to his group of 30 people?"

Daryl and Tara stayed quiet and watched the drama unfold . Rick watched over the debate. His eyes every once and a while glanced over to Daryl, but it didn’t stay too long on him and turned his attention back to the others. Andrea then takes a step up.  
“What about taking him far out and just leaving him?” Glenn then looks over to Andrea. “We could, but he knows where the farm is, he knows Maggie.”   
Ricks hands then fell to the back of the chair and leaned over still listening and trying to come up with something.  
“Anyone else?” Rick asked looking around. Tara and Daryl both stay quiet. They knew what was going to happen, they were trying to fit some of the old world back into this hellish new world and it was failing.T then looks over to ask.  
“How would you do it?” Rick looked away and took a breath,   
“I thought about hanging, but shooting him may be more humane.”

"More humane?" Dale bursted out. "It would be more humane to give the kid a damn chance. You are accusing him of committing a crime he may never commit." He shook his head. "I can't believe you people. Are you gonna watch too? No, you're just going to hide with your head in the sand. Cowering in your tents, trying to pretend that we're not murdering a human being." Tears were brimming in the old man's eyes. Emma felt sorry for him. Fighting this battle on his own with no support from anyone. Not even Andrea, who he cared for as if she were his own daughter. Lori then spoke. "I don't like the idea of killing him, but I wouldn't feel safe with him walking around with us." She touched her stomach protectively. "Not around this baby and certainly not around Carl or Sophia." Dale shook his head again. "Do what you will, but I will have no part of it." With that, he began walking towards the front door, stopping briefly by Tara and Daryl and muttering, "this group is broken." If the situation weren't so serious, Emma would have laughed since Daryl had expressed the same sentiment earlier.

Daryl said nothing as Dale had mirrored his words to him, and his eyes softened on Dales and watched as he walked out of the house. He felt bad, it never felt good taking a life, that guilt always there eating at you. He then sighed and looked back over to Rick. Ricks head goes down and he takes another breath and nods standing straight.” Alright then , I’ll do it.” He then looked at Emma and then over at the twins and then left the house as well, the twins watched him leave and Daryl turned to follow him. Tara then stands and looks over to Emma.

Emma looked back at Tara and then grabbed her duffle bag. She nodded at her and then made her way out of the house. "He shouldn't have to do this on his own." After a moment, Shane ran outside after them. "Hey Emma," he called.   
"I'm really not in the mood right now, Shane," she said continuing on. "I'm not here to crack jokes," he said grabbing her arm. She spun around and faced him, her hair whipping around and the majority landing on her shoulder. "I suggest you remove your hand right now before you dont have one anymore." He quickly did as he was told.   
"Sorry. I'm coming too though. You're right. Rick shouldn't have to do this by himself. I know we've been through hell and back, but I at least want to help him out if I can." Emma was about to tell him to fuck off, but for once he actually seemed sincere. Emma remembered what Rick said about them being brothers. She sighed. "Fine," she said. There was no time to argue anyway and maybe he would be of some use. "If he tells you to go though, you're gone. Got it?" She said in a daring tone. He nodded in agreement and then trailed behind as Emma rushed on ahead.

Tara has seen the whole thing her fist gripped tightly on her crossbow and was able to catch up to Shane, she walked by his side.. she never looked at him but her threat was very real.” You put your hands on her like that again, I’m going to cut those hands off and shove them right up your ass.” Her eyes then shoot up to him, he was taller than her but she had speed on her side, couldn’t really say the same about office Ass hole.thats how it always started and she would be damn if she wasn’t going to say something or just go straight to throwing hands. Daryl was now bringing the guy out of the shed, walking him up to the barn where Rick had disappeared to slowing down once he heard Emma close by.

Emma glanced over as she heard Tara make the threat. She smiled warmly at her in appreciation and kept walking towards the barn. She walked inside finally and stood close to Rick.   
Shane then went to where Daryl was bringing out Randall to offer assistance in bringing him to the barn.   
Once they made it to the barn with him, Shane took out a blindfold and wrapped it around the boys eyes. "It'll all be over soon," he said gently in a calming tone, almost like even he felt bad for what was about to happen.   
Emma looked to Rick. "I don't think we can hold off any longer," she said sympathetically. "Are you sure you need to be the one to do this?" She asked him.

Tara walked in as well and stayed back, Daryl moving over to the side to look at Rick and Emma. Rick takes a deep breath and then nods to Emma, he moves his hand to grip the Python hilt, removing the gun from its holsters and bringing it to his side, his fingers tapping the cool Metal of his gun. And then he holds the gun up pointing it right at Randall's forehead. He was sweating now , his body was on fire, could he do this, even if it was to protect everyone it still felt so wrong. He took a few more breaths and his finger is on the trigger, he can hear the kid sobbing out, and begging.. but what stopped him cold was the words of his young son at the doors of the barn, “ do it dad.” Rick then Looked over to the others around him his gun still pointed at the guy, he could’ve done it. He points the gun down and hits the safety on the gun and puts it back in the holster. “ take him back.” Rick then looks over to son.

The whole room went silent at the sound of Carl's voice. All except Randall. Shane looked at Rick and then went to Carl. "Hey what did I tell you, man." He said as he turned Carl from the barn. When Rick said to take him back, Shane looked at Rick disbelievingly, but brought Carl inside and grabbed Randall to take him out. Emma looked to Daryl, hoping he could read her. Ask him to go with Shane, just to make sure he obeyed Rick's orders. She was almost relieved. Emma squeezed Rick's shoulder gently. "It's okay," she said. It had to be an awful feeling, your child telling you to kill someone in cold blood. "Do you need us to leave?" She asked. "To speak with Carl."

Daryl gave a soft nod to Emma as he read the look on her face and followed Shane out, keeping his hand on his Bowie as he followed. Rick takes a deep breath and looks over to Emma. “yeah, get to the camp and tell them what’s going on, me and Carl will be there soon..” he then opens his mouth to call Tara when his eyes look around the spot she was at, she was no longer there, she must have left a few minutes ago. he then walks over to Carl putting his hand in his shoulder, “ we need to talk son. “ and with that they leave the barn quietly.

Emma nodded in response and left towards the camp. When she reached the camp there was an eerie silence. Everyone was sitting anxiously awaiting the news, almost as if they were in a doctors office waiting for news on a family member.   
"He's still alive," Emma told them. "Rick couldn't do it. Carl showed up and told him to do it. Rick's got him right now and the others are making sure Randall gets back in the shed okay." Lori breathed a small sigh. "When did he get out of the house?" She asked, tears welling up in her eyes. Emma shrugged. Carl was usually out wandering around the farm anyway. 

Dale was walking outside in the field, trying to get as far away from the farm as he reasonably could. He wanted to be as far away from the sound of the gun shot when it went off as he could possibly go. He held his gun tightly in his hand. As he moved forward, he thought he heard a weakened "moo." As he approached, he saw one of Hershel's cows on the ground, its guts had been ripped out of its belly. The cow raised his head at Dale weakly. He turned around to go back to the barn, but as soon as he turned around, a Walker sprung at him. Dale crashed to the ground with a loud yell and attempted holding the Walker away from him as he screamed for help. The walker's force was too strong though. Dale screamed loudly in pain as the Walker dug his nails deeply into his stomach. Blood and organs began spilling out as he dug deeper and deeper into Dale.

It’s not long till Rick and Carl soon come back to camp Carl heading into the tent as soon as they had gotten back. Rick then looks over at everyone that was there, there was relief and guilt rolling around his mind. “I'm sorry, I.. I couldn’t .”   
As soon as he and Shane had tied Randall back into the shed, he really thought about doing this for Rick, killing the guy and Shane too, But when the yells of dale had reached them his eyes widened a little and looked at Shane. “let’s go!” He tells Shane and then he’s out the door with a flashlight and his knife drawn. It didn’t take long to follow the screams of pain and agony. Daryl didn’t think, he full body tackled the walking off of dale and then once Daryl got a good hold the knife goes straight through the skull, killing it once again. Daryl then turns to run over to dale his eyes wide at the carnage he see. There was no way dale was going to live. Hearing the others from the group yelling he waves the flashlight.” Over here!!”

Emma had fallen silent after she told the group what had happened and why Randall was still alive. Once they heard the screams echoing in the air the group raced off towards them, after Lori ordered Carl to go into the house and stay there.   
They followed the sounds and shortly afterwards heard Daryl yell their location. Emma stopped just short of Dale, taking in everything. She saw where his guts had been ripped out, the Walker, now fully dead on the ground and the cow over to the side. Most of the group was now in a panic and crying. Emma knelt down beside him surveying the damage. There was no fixing this. Dale writhed on the ground, unable to speak. He wanted to tell them how much pain he was in. He wanted to tell them to just kill him now or go get help, but the only thing that would come out were pained moans.

When Rick came upon the others and saw Dale his eyes widened, yelling for Herschel, he kneels down by Emma and looks dale over, he sees the damage that has been done, and he knew there was no coming back from this. But his mind still thought he could, yelling to Glenn to get the medical supplies. Now seeing Herschel he stands back up fast yelling for him to help Dale, but once the older man got a good look and looked at Rick he knew... he knew that nothing could be done. Screaming out before he moved away alittle packing. Daryl stayed back, his head bowed slightly but cutting his eyes over to the group every once and a while his face a neutral mask of no emotion.

Emma heard someone say that he was suffering, but she didn't catch who it was. "We have to do something," she said in response. She pulled out her gun for a moment and pointed it at Dale's head. Dale raised slightly so the barrel was touching his forehead, as if giving her permission to get it over with. Emma felt like everything was going in slow motion. It was then that she started thinking of her father and her hand started shaking. "I'm sorry," she told him. "I can't." Tears rolled down her face as she placed the gun at her side.

Rick closes his eyes when Emma says she couldn’t, removing his python and moving to point it at Dale as well. His hand gripping the handle trying to get himself to pull the trigger, if anything to help Dale from being in pain, he stood there for a few minutes, then a hand softly moved over his grip of the gun taking it gently from Rick, his eyes shoot up not even knowing how long Daryl had been so close to him. Daryl’s eyes softened as he looked into Rick's eyes nodding lightly, Rick moved away slowly, eyes never leaving Daryl’s until he started to kneel down, Daryl’s face a mask of cool composure. And lifts the gun to put the barrel right to Dale’s forehead. Daryl’s eyes soon found Dale’s pain filled gaze, and he took a deep breath. “Sorry brother.” As soon as it was said he squeezed the trigger of the python, sterling his wrist for the kick back, his eyes never leaving throughout his actions. Daryl stands without a word and looks down at Emma putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s ok, he ain’t suffering no more.”

Emma stood up and hugged him. "Its something none of us should have had to do. I'm sorry for not having the balls to do it myself." She then pulled away and frowned at him. "Do you know what Tara had to go check on?" She asked. She had been gone since before they left the barn. They had all heard Dale's screams and came running. By all logic, Tara should have heard them too and she knew, even though the Dixon's had a hard exterior, she knew they wouldn't stay gone if they thought someone from the group was in trouble...except maybe Shane...or Angela. She looked down at Dale and sighed softly. Tears were echoing through the group. "Someone needs to go get the truck," she said. "And some blankets. Take him back to the house for now or something until tomorrow and then we can bury him. We cant leave him out here like this though." Shane stepped forward. He looked sad like everyone else here was, but he also looked almost like he was ashamed or something. "I'll go get the truck," he said in a shaky voice, before going back towards the camp. Lori stood up. Sometime in all of the commotion, Carl had come out and was crying in her lap. "Wait, Shane. I'll come with you. I need to get Carl back to the house. I'll grab the blankets while I'm inside and run them out to you." Shane nodded as Lori got up. She picked up the boy and carried him, just like a mother should. Emma walked over to Rick. "Maybe you should go with them," she said quietly. "Be with your son. We'll figure out the rest tomorrow morning."

Rick doesn’t really say anything, he looks over at Emma as she speaks and then nods turning slowly to make his way back to the house slowly with the others in the group. Daryl then looks over to Emma. When she had asked about Tara, he hadn’t seen her since the barn he looks over slowly to where their camp is.” I don’t know, but I’m sure she is somewhere. “ he then looked back over to Emma and nodded to their camp.” Go start packing up are things, Hershel said that everyone needs to move into the house. Don’t worry about the tents or the bikes, we will get them tomorrow morning. I’m going to help with dale and then I’ll be up to help.”

Emma nodded at Daryl in understanding. "If you guys need any help, you know where I'll be." Emma walked slowly towards the camp, her gun in hand and on alert, just in case there were anymore walkers nearby. Even though she was walking slower than normal, it still didn't take very long to finally reach the campsite. Emma got hers, Daryl's, and Tara's things. There wasn't a whole lot between the three of them, but it would still take about two trips to get everything, except for the tents and bikes. Emma took Tara and Daryl's things to the house first and then went back for her own.


	9. The Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We did a little bit of a time-hop right here. 
> 
> This part of the story starts after Shane has freed Randall and then killed him. 
> 
> Rick and Shane finally have their face off.

Tara sat outside on the porch, the night hanging over them. She was the only one allowed outside right now, what a damn shit show this was. Dale had died, she then rubbed her face hard as she stood up with her bow, to lean against the railing to look over at the farm, then the shit with Randall. Something didn’t add up. And she had a feeling someone wasn’t going to be coming back. She then pushed off the rail and started to pace watching everything, the darkness of the night covered the land making it harder to see. But her ears could pick up what her eyes couldn’t. Her brother and glen had taken off one way, before Rick headed out he had put Emma in charge of getting everyone to the house and keeping them safe, Tara was to stay posted outside to keep an eye out Incase Randall showed back up. Something was wrong, she didn’t know what it was or why she felt it but she felt truly uneasy. Her eyes checked her bow to make she the bolt was ready, her knife and backup piece on her person..” this is going to be a long night” she muddled to herself. Hearing the chatter inside the house.

The group was beginning to get restless. Almost everyone together in one house for hours. Lori, Maggie, and Beth were in the kitchen with Beth's mother and brother, getting dinner together for everyone. It had been too long. Emma wondered if they had found Randall yet. Once the food was done, Emma stepped outside for just a moment to give Tara a plate. "I take it there's been nothing yet?" She asked. 

Shane walked in front of Rick looking for Randall. Or at least Rick was looking for Randall. Shane was looking for a good spot to finally give Rick what he deserved, so that Shane could finally get what he deserved. Shane knew that Lori would never truly be with him. Not while Rick was in the picture. They weren't together anymore, but Rick wasn't going to give him a choice. Rick would not let him have anything to do with this baby that was more than likely his. Plus on top of that, Shane missed being in charge of the group. They were better off before Rick came around and started taking charge of everything.

Tara looks at the food then back to Emma shaking her head.” Not really that hungry.” She then looked back over the farm lands.” No, nothing. Emma something Doesn’t feel right. There would have been no way he slipped those cuffs by himself.”   
Rick's eyes would look over at Shane, his body now on guard as some things clicked into place for him.. he knew Shane was leading him, most likely to get rid of him. He could feel Shane stop but he kept going to the farm house in the distance the moon hung heavy in the starless black sky. And he then buys his weapon back in its hostler.” So, this is where your going to do it?”

Emma sat the plate down on the rail. "I'll keep it here in case you want it here in a bit." She peered into the darkness, her eyes slowly adjusting from being inside all this time. "I know what you mean, something definitely doesn't feel right." She hoped that everything was okay, but she didn't trust it. "I know this is going to sound crazy, but I kinda think Shane let him go. I don't think Randall could get the best of Shane...even with a rock." She sighed and went to the door. Before she went inside, she went back over to Tara and handed her the rest of the pack of ciggs she had on her and the lighter. "Let me know if you hear or see anything. I'm worried and the group is getting restless." With that she went back into the house.

"I'm tired of fighting for you, man. I want my life back." Shane said. There was no point in lying about it at this point. Shane pulled his gun out, pointing it at Rick. "All I gotta tell them is how we found the prisoner and he shot you down and I got to him and snapped his neck." He stared Rick down. "Lori's already over you man and Carl's young. He'll be fine. I'll be a better father than you to him and the baby anyway, man. You barely pay any attention to the kid."

Tara nods to Emma and right before she goes inside Tara looks at her.” If ya need my help yell, I’ll be there. “ Tara then takes out a cigarette with a smile. She puts it to her lips and then as she lights it she pulls the smoke in stuffing the lighter in the pack and putting it inside her black leather vest pocket. She starts walking around going from one side to the other. She then hears footsteps, she brings her bow up fast and aims. Her eyes then see who it is, she lowers the bow and walks over to them as they come up the porch.” Fine him? “ she asked to move the bow behind her so it fit loose on her back. And he shakes his head” ya, but something ain’t right.” He then moves over to Tara, his hand gripping her shoulder..” he was turned, but the thing was he wasn’t bit. Someone broke his neck.” Daryl said giving her a knowing look and she nodded.” Shane...” Daryl nodded to as Daryl walked into the house first followed by glen and Tara.” Rick ain’t back yet?” He asked now he was feeling a little scared, they should have been back.

“Okay Shane, this is how we are going to do it.” Rick then takes out his gun and holds onto the barrel holding it out while taking careful steps to Shane, he had to plan this out right. “ we can drop these guys and go back to the farm, back to Lori, and Carl.. and your baby.” He was very close now. “ please brother let’s just go back and stop all this.” The second Shane’s hand gripped the handle of the gun he stuck out. His knife went ripping through Shane’s chest and with the force Rick had taken Shane to the ground ripping out the knife screaming out at Shane as he started to bleed out. One of Rick's hands clutching onto Shane, he had killed his brother... no, what he killed wasn’t his brother anymore. But it didn’t hurt any less.

Emma looked up when she heard the door open. She thought it was more than likely Tara, but she grabbed her gun from its holster just in case, but kept it slightly lowered that way if it was some sort of danger, she would at least be quick on the draw. As soon as she saw who it was, she quickly put her gun back in its holster. When Daryl asked if Rick was back, Emma shook her head. We haven't seen him or heard from him in hours." She looked towards them and then was filled with sudden panic. "Oh God. He's alone with Shane. This is a set up to keep us distracted. Rick's in trouble if Shane gets the jump on him." 

Shane watched Rick cautiously as he spoke. He calmed when Rick mentioned Lori and Carl and HIS baby. He lowered the gun slightly. Maybe they could go back to being brothers. As he moved in to give Rick a hug though, that's when the pain began. Darkness began creeping into his sight as he heard Rick screaming at him. It would be the last thing he ever heard. He looked at Rick. What had he done? He asked himself as darkness fully took over until finally there was nothing left. Only a void.

“ shit! '' Daryl cuss as he turns to leave the house, Tara hot on his hills. But then he comes to a stop on the side of the porch, his eyes widen as he took in the scene... Tara has stopped beside him, her eyes wide as well. She mirrored her words from early. Only this time it was laced with alittle fear.” Gonna be a long night.” She whispers, she can hear it now the groans and hissing of the dead. It was a Herd, and the darkness made them even more dangerous. Tara right her grip on her crossbow and then had it at the ready for as soon as she needed it. Daryl wanted to go after Rick but knew he wouldn’t be able to. They were going to need all the help they could get, if they were going to all get out alive.  
Emma followed them outside. They had to go get Rick. As soon as she got outside though, she saw the same thing. "Fuuuuck." She said. She grabbed her bag from inside the house and wrapped it around herself like a backpack. She would have left it behind, but it had all of her ammo and medical supplies and she had a feeling they would need it. "There's too many of them," she said. "If they get to the house, they're gonna rip it apart." She had her gun in hand, ready for all hell to break loose.

Daryl can feel the others come out of the house as well seeing the herd for themselves. And no one really knew what to do. Daryl then looked over at the people behind him” turn off the lights and get everything together and to the cars! Be fast and only grab what is needed ! We have to leave.” He hops over the rail and gets to work taking down the walkers that are the closest to the farm house. Tara looks over at Emma and takes a dead breath.” We will hold them off for as long as we can... me and Daryl can get on a bike to make a fast getaway. If we get split up, the highway where we lost Sophia is where we should all meet up. As soon as you're packed get out Emma, don’t wait and don’t get dead.”

Emma nodded at Tara. "You guys don't get dead either. I'm gonna help the others however I can." She gave Tara a brief hug. "Be careful and we'll see you there."   
No sooner than she had said it, the farm erupted into flames. "What the fuck?" She asked, turning towards the barn. Luckily it seemed to be an immediate distraction for a good bit of the walkers. In the distance she could see Rick and another figure at the top of the barn, in the loft.   
Almost on que to answer her question about who the other was, Lori ran out of the house. She must have run in whenever she saw the walkers. "Carl's gone," she said. Emma pointed off into the distance. With that, Hershel's son ran off and got into the camper and booked it to the barn.

-Tara looked at Lori and then back out and then hopped the rail and then looked back at the group and yelled.” You got a little time, get your shit and get gone!! Rick will take care of the boy !! You need to move now!! Emma, get them gone !!” She said as she stabbed a closing in walker and then took off into the dark madness the flames of the barn making it seem like she was walking straight into hell, where her brother was waiting.

Glenn and t-dog watch with wide eyes but once Tara had snapped at them the two got moving, tuning quickly to get things together. Beth ran to help where she was needed , while Carol held Sophia close and started for the car’s to get them backed up to the house to cut down on the time.

Emma grabbed Lori by the wrist and all but dragged Lori to a vehicle close by and made her get in. "Carl will be okay," she said gently. "T-dog?!" She yelled, spotting him close by. "Get her out of here. A Walker moved slowly towards the truck when it heard her yell. Emma raised her gun and shot it in the head as T-Dog rushed by and climbed in the truck. "Go!" Emma went to help Carol grab the vehicles to bring them close to the house. She got out of the car and yelled to Maggie and Glen to get in the car as well. She swept her eyes surveying the damage. Beth and her mother were off in the distance, getting surrounded. Emma ran over, but it was too late. Her mother was gone. Emma grabbed Beth by the wrist before she could collapse on the ground. "Come on," she said as calmly as she could with all the commotion going on. "We gotta get out of here." She brought her by Hershel who held a rifle steadily in his hands. "Hershel, you and Beth need to go now." Hershel shook his head, shooting down walkers. "This is my farm. I will die here if I have too." Emma grabbed a second gun from her other holster and used both to take down two walkers close by. "No you won't." She replied. "Not tonight. You gotta go. We all need to leave." He knew better than to argue with her. Beth was with him and he wasn't about to let his daughter die standing right next to him. He finally nodded and took off with Beth.

Daryl was able to get to his bike, killing everything in his way, he started up the bike, right as Tara appeared at his side mirroring his actions to mount her bike and start it up. By now he sees glen and Maggie take off in the lime green SUV then watching t-dog and Lori along with Hershel and Beth in the bed of the old truck... Daryl looks over to his sister and nods.” Go get Emma, and get off this damn farm. You know where to go!! “ then he takes off walkers going after the sound of the bike. Tara stands on the bike to look for Emma, just now making Hershel take Beth to the bed of the truck, Tara stabs a closing in walker as she lifts her feet and takes off up the small hill. Taking out anything thing that gets to close. Driving in the dark, trying to avoid dead people trying to eat you on a Motorcycle, Tara was just close to losing her shit altogether. She puts on a bust of speed and breaks the bike causing it to fishtail around and take out two walkers that was inches away from Emma, leaning so one foot is now on the ground she pulls at the bike to bring it up.” Let’s go now Em!!!!!” Tara moves herself up the bike a little to give Emma room. And once Tara felt Emma’s arms lock around her she hit the gas and spun on the bike to gain more speed and took off, she moved the bike with grace avoiding the walkers and the dead on the ground. The farther away they get, the more quiet it becomes. Tara doesn’t say a word, not even sure what to say, she wasn’t even sure what the fuck just happened. She sighs and continues to drive with Emma.

Emma looked around, making sure everyone was gone before putting her guns back in their holsters and then hopping on the bike behind Tara. She held on tight as they zoomed away. After they had slowed down slightly, Emma finally felt comfortable enough to not hang on anymore. It was sad, watching the barn fall to the ground behind and them as they rode away. It was a silent ride on the way to the car where Sophia ran off. Daylight was already upon them when they reached their destination.

Once they come to a stop Tara puts the stand up so the bike stays upright. And then gets off the bike taking her bow with her as she looks around at the highway and all the cars. No one had made it yet.. she looked back at Emma she wasn’t sure what to do.. did everyone get out ok.. she knew Daryl could take care Of himself yet she still worries. “ are... are you ok? You're not hurt are you?? “ she then looks Emma over.

Emma scoffed, trying to make this terrible situation lighter. "Nah, not hurt. I didn't let one get near me," she smiled. "I wonder where everyone is though. I made sure most everyone was out before we left. The only ones I really lost track of were Jim when he went to help Rick and Carl and then of course i lost track of them and then I didnt see Andrea fucking anywhere. I know Glen and Maggie were in the car, Lori and T-Dog, Beth and Hershel....Particia is gone. Carol and Sophia were in a car." She tried thinking of everyone. "I would think at least someone else would be here now though."

Tara nodded as Emma told her of the rest of the group. “ Daryl said he was going after Andrea. But you are right, I’m surprised -“ Tara stops talking as she hears a truck slowing down and she looks over having her bow so it could be use within a moments notice. But then as it got closer she could see Rick and Carl and Tara let out a soft sigh. Once Rick stopped and got out Carl jumping out as well as he speed walks over to Emma wrapping her in a tight hug.” You guys made it!! “ he then lets go slowly and puts his hand on her shoulder and moves to grasp Tara’s hand tightly, and Tara gripped ricks hand tight as he then brought her into a light hug and then letting go, his actions speaking louder then words. Carl then runs over and hugs Emma from the side And hugging as tight as a child could. His hat falling to the ground. Rick then steps back looking them over to make sure they was not hurt.” You guys ok?? What about the others?!”

On que with Tara, Emma grabbed her gun out of its holster and was on high alert. When she saw it was Rick and Carl, she grinned widely and put the gun pack into its holster. Emma hugged Rick back tightly. "I'm so glad you guys are okay. I was really worried when I saw you in the loft of the barn...and the fire. That was brilliant by the way. Super dangerous, but brilliant." She grinned as he went to hug Tara and she was almost taken by surprise when Carl hugged her. They hadn't really spoken much since she had joined the group. Once the hug was over, she bent to the ground, picking up his sheriff's hat and put it right on his head. "Don't lose it," she said with another smile at the child.  
"No one else has shown up yet," she said with a frown. She then went through the list again that she had previously with Tara, informing him of who she knew should have gotten away and which ones she wasn't sure on and of Patricia's death as well. As she spoke though, a small convoy of vehicles began approaching. Lori was the first one out of the car and she ran as fast as she could towards Carl, picking him up and crying. "Oh my God," she was saying over and over again.

Rick nodded to Emma as she revealed everything she knew about the others until he heated the Familiar sound of the bike.. and he looked over Daryl only rode in from of the other two vehicles, and then they pulled to a stop, Tara then went over and gave him a hug around the neck, since he was still on the bike. No words were spoken, they didn’t need them, and Daryl hug her back just as tight. Tara then pulled back as Rick comes up beside her and clasped hands with Daryl, putting a hand on his shoulder .” How did you find everyone? “ Daryl gives a smirk as his eyes cut over to glen.” Taillights was all over the road...figures they was Asia dive like that.” The group was all laughing light at Daryl cracking a joke, and then even a little more at glens.” Ha ha very funny.” But glen takes it with a warm smile as his hand grabs onto Maggie’s.” They all went through who was missing or dead and then started on about what they should do now. “ we need to stay off the main roads, avoid Assholes like this.” Daryl says as he shoots the walker that was coming closer to the group. Tara looks around watching the others going back to getting in their cars. She then waits to see where Emma was going knowing she and her brother would be leading. She wasn't sure if Emma was riding with them or one of the others. But they did need to leave.

Emma watched as most of the other members of the group arrived. There were still a few people missing, but she was glad that almost everyone was back together. She hoped the missing ones were okay. She smiled when Daryl rode up and Tara went to hug her brother. The twins reunited at last.   
Emma looked around at the cars as the groups got into the respective vehicles. For the most part it looked like all the room would be taken up so Emma walked over to Tara. "Mind my company again?" She asked.

Tara then gave her a true smile, and nodded.” If it’s you, I don’t mind.” She moves up a little on her bike so Emma will have room. And once she was on she and her brother take the lead of the small rag tag group. They just needed to get somewhere far away from the herd so they can take a breath and think.   
By the time they are forced to stop due to one of the cars running out of gas they are on a back wood road, maybe three hours away from the farm, a river in the distance as well as an old stone ruin of a house that once stood there further down. The twins stay on their bikes as Rick comes up most of the group getting out to see what was up. “ you out?” Daryl asks as Rick comes up to him.” Yeah, we are going to have to make camp, go on a run in the morning.” 

"Thanks," Emma replied, climbing on the bike behind her once again. "We're definitely gonna have to find me one of these or else you're gonna have to trade out for a two seater or hook up a sidecar," she laughed.   
After they had all come to a halt after a few hours, and Rick described the situation, Emma climbed off the bike. They would be here for a minute. It was too close to getting dark and they definitely didn't want to be making too much noise in the night time.   
As they began getting everything ready for the camp, Emma pulled Rick aside. "Hey, I'm sorry, but I have to ask. What took you guys so long...and where is Shane?" She had a feeling she already knew the answer, after all it was an obvious set up after they had thought about it during the time they had been gone. Not that she was heartbroken about Shane's disappearance, but she felt bad for Rick for being the one to take him out.

Daryl gets off his bike taking his bow Tara doing the same thing as the two backup a little, they never liked being in with a crowd. Once Emma brought up Shane, Tara goes over to start taking stock of what they had with them to see what could be useful. Daryl still had his eyes on Rick, they both knew what happened and put together what Rick did, yet they couldn’t blame him for it.. he was pushed; something that Shane was good at. Daryl watched and nodded.” Found Randall out in the woods, Shane killed him like he always wanted, but he wasn’t bit. “ Daryl looks up at Rick and their eyes meet and Daryl really watched.. he had kind of already figured it out but he needed Rick to tell them. Then Rick's whole demeanor changed, his eyes becoming hard as he started.” Shane led me out into the woods to get rid of me, I got to him first. “ he then looked around and hardened himself even more.”We are all infected... the doctor from the CDC told me as we were leaving. We all have it.” Tara stops what she is doing and her mouth hangs open in slight shock... not the Shane news but how the hell did they all get infected. Daryl looks over at the group as glen steps up.” Why didn’t you tell us, when I found those walkers in the bars I told for the food of the group! You had no right to hid it from us.” Rick looks back at glen, his face a bloody scary calm.. and Daryl and Tara step back once... they knew they were dangerous... and this man standing here was radiating calm and madness. His eyes never pulling from glens as his voices drops with power.” And I thought it was best not to say anything. We stay together and camp tonight, tomorrow we make a run into town.” He turns on his heels and starts to where the brick structure was not bothering to look back. Tara looks over at Emma and Daryl, the group now quiet.-

As Rick told them what had happened, the group watched in silence, until he mentioned that they were all infected.   
Emma had kind of a bit of a feeling on that. Too many people had turned too quickly. The whole world, save a few people like them had turned too quickly...the world was over run too quickly. It made way more sense as well as to why Rick wanted to shoot Randall instead of hang him. She was sure part of it was that he wanted to do it quickly so the kid wouldn't have to feel pain for long, but turning into a Walker by hanging would have been a pretty big shock to anyone who witnessed.   
Emma frowned as he walked off and turned to the now silent group. Rick was in a dark place now that was for sure and it would take some time to get him out of it.   
Lori stood up angrily and walked outside the brick fortress that was enclosing him. "You killed him?" She yelled, tears streaming down her face. A loud smack echoed through the air. "I can't believe you would do that. You couldn't kill that kid and he was a danger to us and the baby, but you had to kill the man I loved." Emma walked out and grabbed Lori's arm. "Leave him the fuck alone," she said. "You've put him through enough and you just heard him. Shane tried to kill him first," she said through clenched teeth. "And quit yelling unless you wanna bring another herd at us." She walked Lori back to the group. "Sit the fuck down and let him be. I know you're hurt, but so was Rick."

Tara and Daryl watched Lori go after Rick, heard the yells and then Emma walking over to pull Lori away. Rick said nothing as Lori came at him. All the doubt and guilt coming back. But his face had stayed calm and in control, although the smack now starts to smart a little he doesn’t let it show. His eyes then move to Emma as she takes Lori away and he turns back around and starts a perimeter check. Daryl then looks over.” Let’s set up camp.” He elbows tara and she nods to Daryl and starts to walk over to the area where there was some brick wall left. The group follows..Daryl stops by Emma.. “ Tara is going to go out on watch, get a fire going and try to keep everyone from killing one another... they are almost in shock, and scared. I’m going to go and try to talk to Rick and see if we can come up with some kind of plan. If ya need me or Tara, two high shrill whistles. We will come running.” Daryl then nodded and took off as Tara elbows Emma lightly.” We will teach you a little later on stealth communication. That way you’ll know things as soon as me and Daryl.” Tara looks at the group and kind of smirks.” Good luck.” And then she takes off to start her walk around.

Emma nodded at Daryl and smiled knowingly why he was really going there. They may have not told each other that they liked one another, but it was obvious and she knew Daryl would be worried and want to check on him. "Have fun," she said before walking off to leave him wondering and to go to Rick.   
As Tara said good luck, Emma whispered, "for the love of God, don't leave me alone with them too long." Luckily Rick had really startled them all into silence, so hopefully there wouldn't be a bloodbath.   
Emma walked back into the group. "Don't judge Rick too harshly," she told them. "He's only ever done what he thought would keep the group safe and hes not going to stop now." Lori looked down at the ground and held Carl against her, tears still rolling down her cheeks. "We're all going to be okay." She stopped abruptly. Since when had she become the pep talk person? She thought to herself. She went into her duffle bag and got out a couple small bags of chips. She handed one to Carl and one to Sophia. At least then the kids would have something to occupy themselves with while all hell's breaking loose.


	10. The Prison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a bit of a time skip while the group searches for a new place to live. 
> 
> Finally they find a prison that looks like it may be a safe place for Lori to have the baby, but first they need to clear the place out.

T-dog helps roll out the map as the group gathers around. T-dog and Glenn standing on one side, Hershel and Maggie in front , and Tara and Daryl on the other side. Rick putting Beth and Carl And Sophia on watch. They had all learned to use weapons and the kids had grown up very fast. Once Rick and Emma join them.   
“We got nowhere else to go.” T- dog says looking over the map. Tara leans over a little to point.   
“When this herd hits this one over here we are cut off.” Daryl nods trying to think.  
“Was it 150 a head?” He asks and Glenn shakes his head..  
“It would be double by now.”   
Rick didn’t really say anything yet and just listens. Trying to pull everything together so he can make a plan on where to go.

Hershel was the first to speak up.   
"The herd could have delayed them. If we hurry, we could have a shot to tear right through there." Emma watched as the others went over the map. Emma had become of a little more help to the group since they had left the farm. Daryl and Tara taught her about scouting and she had learned to yield other weapons, aside from a gun and had been able to get more creative with things that weren't necessarily weapons, but things that could be used like weapons.   
"I think we're going to be completely blocked," Maggie started with a sigh. Emma looked over to Lori who was sitting patiently in the truck. She had grown quite large in the past few months and was likely to burst at any moment. Hershel had been teaching both Emma and Carol on how to help Lori through the child birth, since Emma had some medical experience before coming to the group.   
"We definitely need to find somewhere soon. I don't know how much longer Lori is going to last before the baby comes. It's not going to be very much longer though, I can definitely tell you that." Hershel nodded in agreement.   
"She can't handle much more of this moving around," Hershel said, putting a hand on Rick's shoulder. Rick and Lori had barely spoken since the night that she learned of Rick killing Shane. She had attempted to speak with him several times since, mostly about the baby or just trying to talk with him, but things were very different between them now. The whole group had noticed, but they definitely weren't going to say anything.

Rick sighs and nods to Hershel.   
“I know, once we get to Newnan, we will push west.. there has to be somewhere safe.” And that was what they needed. Everyone starts getting their stuff together as T asks about getting some water for the road. And Rick nods telling them to be careful.   
“While the others go wash their panties, let's go hunt... that owl didn’t really hit the spot.” Rick cracks a smile and follows Daryl out into the thick woods. Tara rolls her eyes as they take off. Tara could read what was going on, Daryl was her twin, she could read him naturally. They had spent the whole winter together, and they had made a tight knit family, their group had trained hard for everyone to work like a well oiled machine. They had all grown closer, Tara looked to where Rick and Daryl left to, some more then others, She thought. She then looks over at Emma.   
“Between me and you, how long she got before she goes into labor?”

Emma eyed Daryl and Rick and perked up her eyebrow at them both as they went off together. "Its cute that they think that we don't know," she said quietly to Tara.   
When Tara asked how long Lori had left, Emma took her off somewhere quiet.   
"I haven't even told Lori, but she has already started dilating. I'd say a few days...maybe a week, but it's happening soon." She looked around. "We NEED to find somewhere to go today...maybe tomorrow tops."

Tara gives a small laugh.  
“I know right, we all got very close over the winter. They are not as subtle as they think.” She then follows Emma away from the others, her bow in hand as she listens. She looks back and nods. “Damn, I thought we would have longer but with all the running I’m not surprised.” She then runs a hand through her now short black hair. “I know, and we will find one.. just not sure when but trying to find baby shit is getting harder and harder, not to mention medical supplies,” she said with a sigh, looking back at the group.

She shook her head. "It's not just the running I don't think. Even though she is huge, she's still a tad early I think. I haven't done the exact math because we don't even know if it's Rick's or Shane's kid, but I don't know. Just something doesn't feel right about it." She frowned and also looked towards the group. "I'm hoping maybe there's another town close by that we just haven't noticed or something somehow. Not just to find somewhere to hole up for a few weeks, but to find shit for the baby. Maybe look into a few more houses or something."

Tara nodded with Emma she would be on the lookout for something, she opens her mouth until she hears the rustling of trees, her eyes shoot over watching Rick and Daryl coming from them Rick’s eyes wide and Daryl’s unreadable. She looked to Emma and nodded over to the guys walking over to them.   
“Looks like you just saw a chupacabra..” Daryl looks over to Rick and he sighs.   
“I need you two for a minute.” Tara looks at them, as they walk back into forest. And then Tara shrugs and follows them, Emma right beside her. She then stops when the guys stop and her eyes widen at what she sees. “You have got to be kidding…” she then started to think, and then a smile broke out over her lips. Looking at Emma “Well.. that should work.”

Emma placed her hand on her holster when the rustling of the trees began, but brought her hand back down when she noticed it was Daryl and Rick.   
"Well that was quick," she said quietly to Tara with a smile.   
They followed Rick and Daryl until they saw the prison below. She surveyed the scene below her. There were a good bit of walkers down there, but nothing they couldn't take care of if they were smart about it.   
"That will definitely work," she said in reply to Tara, a large grin spreading on her face.  
It didn't take long for them to get back to the rest of the group and tell them what was going on. Within a few minutes, they were at the prison gates. They began by cutting a hole in the fence with some tools while the rest of the group stood in formation, taking out some of the surrounding walkers. Lori was the first to climb into the fence, while the others came in behind her. After everyone was safely inside, Daryl and Glenn wrapped some wire around the hole they had just put there. They ran down the inner fence until they came to the first gate.

Rick looks around getting a plan in place, it was hot out, they were all sweaty and tired but they had to push a little more and he nods, his voice loud as he starts to give people their roles.  
“Ok!! We need to close the gate, once we do that we can take out the walkers through the fence. Twins get to the upper tower, Emma take Carol to the other tower, she’s getting better at shooting, just have her take her time. Hershel and Carl, take this tower, Take your time, we don’t have the spare ammo. I’ll run to the gate and close it!” The twins had already taken off to the upper tower. “Everyone else, get as many as you can to the fences and you do pop them,” he then takes a deep breath and once everyone is in place Rick takes the clips and brings his gun up. The gate is then open and he goes slow, seeing all the walkers heading to the fence from the noise all of them are making to get their attention. Then Rick takes off.. having a few close calls but nothing Daryl’s bolt couldn’t fix. Once the gate was closed and he got to the top he removed the rifle from his back and whistled. “Light em up!!!” And then the whole place went off with the sound of gun fire and dropping body’s.

Emma and Carol ran up into the tower, helping the others take out the large group of walkers in the prison yard. A few of the others were standing at the fence trying to bring the ones they could over for a distraction.   
As the shooting began, Emma saw Carol shoot and it just barely missed Rick's foot. She heard her say sorry and then she shrugged. "Remember, Carol. Take your time," Emma reminded her as they continued to shoot. After they had taken out the rest of the walkers, the other members of the group began entering through the gate. Everyone was smiling true smiles for the first time in weeks. Emma grinned as she stepped into the yard, a comforting feeling finally washing over her. It was at least a somewhat safe space for Lori to have the baby and Emma was sure that the inside of the prison would have an infirmary with probably more medicine than they had seen since the farm. Emma did worry though about the inside of the prison. Hopefully most of the inmates were the ones they just took out in the yard. She frowned slightly at the prospect, but did not want to be the negative Nancy in the group, so she smiled with the others.

Tara and Daryl were the last ones in shutting and locking the gate. Once that was done they started walking to where the group had started to make a small fire, and everyone seemed to crash from the small win for the first time in a long time. night would be over them soon but you could already feel the chill in the air. Tara sighs softly, Daryl had found some Indian looking poncho’s. Where his was tan with red, hers was red with tan design. It was ugly cute, but it was very warm. Tara removes the small bag she has hanging over her shoulder and drops it to the ground close to the fire and then drops, she clutches the poncho a little tighter around her, while her head lays on the bag she just dropped falling asleep within seconds.. Daryl laughed softly at his sister, he knew they were tired.. but these people were starting to grow on him, as well as Tara. Daryl then looks up at the prison. Running plans though his head. Would it truly be safe? How much time did they have? How many walkers crowded the halls? But Daryl was just too tired to think about it right now. He then lays back so his head rests on Tara’s stomach, pulling his poncho closer as well and closing his eyes.. just resting them of course. 

Emma sat in silence, looking at the prison as the warmth from the fire warmed her cold skin. Well, that and her flannel. She glanced over to Daryl and Tara and smiled. Over the past few months, the two of them had probably gotten the least amount of sleep of just about anyone...except maybe Rick. One or both of them was always going out hunting or scouting or just keeping guard. She doubted even they knew how often they popped off. Occasionally she would go with them on their outings, but a good portion of the time, she would stay with Rick to help keep an eye on things. She knew he still had a world of issues on his mind, but at least he and Daryl had started 'secretly' seeing each other. She smiled as she watched Rick give little side long glances from where he was patrolling the border of the fence. Hershel looked up at the fence.   
"He's walked around about three or four times already. If there was something there, he would have found it by now." Emma got up and walked to Rick.   
"Hey," she said as she approached. "Penny for your thoughts?" She looked at him. "You should come sit with us. Get some rest. We're safe here."

He walks, triple checking everything. He couldn’t be too careful...that and he was restless. They hadn’t found a secure place for so long. He then slows to a stop as Emma approaches. And he shrugs.  
“I’m just running some stuff.. things through. How tomorrow is going to work. I was thinking of a hand to hand combat circle. But I’m not sure yet, and then there’s the baby, and Daryl, it’s just kind of a lot.” His hand moves up just a little going through the beard that had just started to grow and his shoulders slump a little. “I’ll rest when we can get behind some walls. But you need your rest too Emma, you're the one taking care of these people most of the time. You get some rest, I’m going to stay up a little longer. But would you mind making sure Lori eats something? Then get some rest.. we have a long day ahead of us.”

"Stuff and things, huh?" Emma replied with a smile. "That was super specific." She placed a hand on his arm. "You've been through a lot lately. It makes sense that your mind is racing, but you need to get your rest too. Dont stay up here too much longer, okay? Everyone here works hard and you the most out of any of us and I know your mind is always going." She turned to walk away and then paused for a moment. "As far as Daryl goes, just be happy hun. You have someone in your life who makes you happy. Try to run with it as best you can. I didnt come up here to assess you or anything though. I was just worried about you and don't worry about Lori. We've all been making sure her and the kids get the most. We'll save you a plate." Emma left him up by the fence line and then went to sit down by the others again.   
"Is he okay?" Hershel asked.   
"I think okay pretty much sums it up, but he'll be good. He's just stressed out. It's been a lot lately which I'm sure we can all attest too. I think this place right here is just seeming a little too good to be true for him right now though." Hershel nodded in response and then began talking to Beth. He was asking her to sing a song, to which she responded that she couldn't sing it, because it reminded her too much of her mom. Hershel attempted another one and she finally agreed. Her voice filled the silence of the night. Emma brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them as she listened. Soon, Maggie joined in, creating a perfect harmony with her sister.

Rick had come down in the middle of the song, not making a noise, kneeling next to where Daryl laid, throwing some brush into the fire as they sang. It was a very beautiful moment of peace. As the night went on two hours in and Tara got up to go on watch, even if they didn’t have too, it was hard not too. Once the sun started peeking into the sky. Tara was the only one up at this time as she made her way back to camp, and when she walked upon the camp her lips just moved into the biggest smirk. She stood there for a few minutes watching her brother and Rick. Daryl’s back to Rick's chest while Rick's hand lay limp on Daryl's waist. Tara then shook her head and moved over to her brother and kneeled down shaking him softly.  
“Come on big brother, I know you need rest but we got shit to do.” Daryl blinks his eyes open and looks at his twin, it took a few seconds to realize what was going on, and slides from Rick with ease that Rick didn’t even wake up, his cheeks blushing a soft red but Tara just smiled, and then knocked her shoulder on his arm.  
“You would fall for a damn cop.” She joked and he just rolled his eyes with a soft but happy smile.  
“Shut your hole, we got shit to do.” Yet she just laughs as they leave the small camp so they could talk about what should be done once everyone was awake.

Emma woke up, her handy duffle bag had been under her head as she slept. Emma raised up from the cool grass. It was definitely the most comfortable she had been in ages. Just about everyone else was still asleep, aside from Daryl and Tara who had disappeared from around the fire. Emma stood up, taking her flannel off. She was wearing a tank top underneath. It was getting too hot already. She breathed for a moment. She really missed air conditioning. Emma walked around the courtyard by the fence for a moment, enjoying the alone time she had while everyone else was asleep. She sang quietly to herself, songs she used to hear on the radio and from old CDs she once had, until more members of the group began coming too and she walked down to them.   
She walked over to Lori. "How're you feeling?" She asked.   
"Not the best," Lori replied.  
"I know," Emma said. "It'll be okay though." She put a hand on her shoulder and then dug into her bag, handing her a granola bar. "It's not much, but eat it anyway."

Once everyone was up and moving about the twins had come back, Daryl moved over to Rick's side to talk to him about a plan as they stood in front of the now dead fire. Tara moves quietly back over to her bag. Removing her poncho and stuffing it into her bag, and then she dropped down to sit and sigh. And then she lays back watching the sky and enjoying the warm morning. Feeling the cool grass on her skin, god how she wanted to wear some shorts... it was to damn hot for pants..but better hot then dead. Rick looked at the group and then back at the gate that held their prize.   
“So I was thinking of going in hand to hand, a combat circle. We clear this and we can rest behind safe walls. “I’ll run point, Daryl, Tara, Emma, Glenn and T. Get ready, take one firearm but stealth weapons only. You hold the formation, let them come to you. And don’t break rank. We all have each others back. Just kill whatever is in-front of you. Whenever you're ready, we will all meet at the gate. Everyone else draw the walkers to the fences and pop them that way.” Rick clap Daryl on his stomach lightly be for he turn and walked off. Daryl then bends down since he was close to Lori’s other side and dropped a small bag of jerky on her lap.

Emma sat quietly while the group listened to the plan. It wasn't long before the group was preparing themselves. Stealth weapons definitely made the most sense. A few months ago, Emma had found a pair of sai's and those are what she used most of the time now. She flipped them fluidly in her hands, enjoying the feeling of them cutting through the air. She then put her gun in her holster. After she was sure she had everything she needed to bring with her, Emma headed towards the gate.   
As everyone was getting ready, Lori, Beth, and Carol stood at the fence, ready to attract walkers. Lori stood by the gate, ready to open it when the others were ready to go in. Maggie had decided to come with the group as well. She was not about to let Glen go in there without her.

Rick had both his knife and machete out. Daryl on his right Tara to the left, she had made sure Emma was by her side. Her cross bow slung on her back like her brother and a Bowie knife and switchblade in the other. Beside Daryl there was T, and then Glenn and Maggie closing the circle. Rick takes a deep breath and looks to Lori and nods to open the gate. They all moved as one, letting the walkers come to them and dispatch them just as quick. Tara was just tossing the dead aside to take a look around to make sure everyone was ok. This seemed to be working, holy shit... they grew closer to the entryway. Until Rick saw what was beyond it, a court yard of walkers with an open gate and walkers with... was that riot gear?!

They took down one right after the other in perfect form until they came until the open gate and the walkers with riot gear came out.   
"Fuck," Emma said simply. She held both her sai's in front of her as the group began trying to weed their way through the walkers in riot gear. T-dog and Glenn were both trying to hit the walkers in the face, which of course did absolutely no good because of the shields in front of their faces. Maggie grabbed one of the walkers and stabbed it up through the neck.   
"See that?!" She exclaimed excitedly. Glenn and T-Dog looked at her, highly impressed and began doing the same with their weapons. Emma laughed slightly.   
"Men," she said, shaking her head. She ran towards another one and stabbed him through the neck as well. They kept cutting through the ones that had made it out until they came to the gate.  
As everything was unfolding on the other side, Carol, Lori, Hershel, Carl, and Beth remained at the fence. From what they could tell the walkers have subsided.   
"I don't see them," Lori said.

As the others dealt with the walkers with riot gear. Rick heads for the gate, yelling for Daryl as he did so, once the gate was locked Daryl had turn right as a riot walker moved to grab onto him Tara came up from behind with a jump so she could get her are around the neck and push the helm up letting her knife sink into the base of the skull, then it just dropped, Tara then looked up at Daryl with a cocky grin.   
“Losing ya touch big brother?” She then looked at all the dead on the ground. Glenn started at the fence where everyone was waiting until Rick stopped him.  
“Stop.” And Glenn stopped walking back a little.  
“Why? It looks secure.” Daryl shakes his head and points at the courtyard.   
“Not by the look of that court yard.” He then stops and points to a female walker. “And that’s a civilian.” T then sighs and leans against the building as he spoke.  
“So the place could be overrun?” Tara was pacing as she kept watch.

"It might not be," Emma replied. "I mean, it's unlikely she would have made it out this far, but what if she was a visitor for one of these guys when they were alive." She shook her head thinking of Lori and the baby. There was not much time left at all. No...this place had to work. "We gotta keep going. We've come too far now." She pushed ahead with determination, almost surprised the others were actually following her. She was scared shitless about what could be on the other side, but as she said, this had to work. If not, it could be weeks before they found something this promising again. They entered through the outside door and came into a dark room as quietly as they could. Each walked around on high alert, waiting for something to come out at them.

Rick looked around as they came into the main room of the prison. It was so quiet, he then started up the guard tower. Slowly opening the door to fine the dead guard, he looks over the body and then moves to remove the ring of keys. Daryl moves to the cell block and Tara follows, always on high alert, finger on the trigger as they go cell to cell. Glen and Maggie going down on the left to see what was down that way. It was so quiet. Rick then comes down and looks around the large main room and then he just smiles.” This is it.” He looks at Emma clapping her on the shoulder..Glenn and T walk back to the main room and then ten minutes later the twins walk back into the main room. Tara moves her bow over her shoulder as she then points behind her. “It’s clear. Just have to get the dead bodies out and then we’re good.”

As T-Dog began dragging the bodies out, Glenn and Maggie went to go get the others who had stayed back by the fence. It would definitely be hard work getting rid of the rest of the walkers in the other parts of the prison, but at least this area was safe. They could worry about the rest later. Emma was most interested and excited about the possibility of finding the infirmary. Prisons usually kept pretty good stock of medical supplies just out of necessity and frequency of use.   
Emma helped everyone else drag the bodies outside of the cells on the lower level. For some reason there weren't quite as many down on the lower level rather than the top level...  
Glenn and Maggie led the others into the cell block. Lori looked around in amazement, seemingly thrilled to be somewhere where she could have the baby.   
"Is it secure?" She asked.   
"This one is," Emma said with a shrug. "We won't really know about the others until later. We're definitely going to have to take it slow though." Beth looked petrified. "We have to sleep in the cells?" Well...you couldn't please everyone.   
Lori went to Rick and laid a hand on his arm. "Thank you, Rick," she said.

Tara and Daryl helped clean up the bodies of the dead, getting them out of the cells and dumping them over the rail so T and Rick could drag them out. They weren't too worried about it today. They earned their rest for the day. Once it was done and T was getting the last of the bodies out, the rest of the group showed up. Daryl started to look at the cells and frowned heavily. He sat his crossbow out and went into one cell then the other grabbing two mattresses out and setting them so they fit nicely in the perch. It was a good place to be, you could see all the cells and the door that brought you inside the cell block. But he grumbled all the while bringing everything into his now claimed spot. “ain’t sleeping in no cage. We’ll take the perch.” And as soon as he had said it, Tara dropped onto the mattress closest to the wall that Daryl had brought over, taking her poncho and covering up and rolling over. She was out within seconds. Daryl gave a small smile as he watched his sibling get some much needed rest. Rick stands by the main door as the rest come in. His smile was a proud one. They now had a safe place to sleep and rest, to have the baby somewhere safe. When Lori had come over and spoke to him he gave her a warm smile and patted her hand on his arm. He had slowly started to come around. He knew it would never work but she was still Carl’s mother, all that other stuff he was still bitter about but he would not let it worry him so much anymore. “You’re welcome Lori, we can be safe here, Carl and the baby will be safe here. Go and get some rest.” He gave her one last smile and moved over to Emma. “ hey, Emma.. I just wanted to thank you for what you did earlier, I was doubting myself coming in here, you pushed through that, so think you.” He put a hand on her shoulder trying to convey his thanks to her.

Emma shook her head in response to Rick. "Don't worry, I was doubting coming in here too. We came so far though and we had to find somewhere safe for the baby." She was definitely concerned for everyone else, but right now making sure Lori and the baby were safe was top priority. She followed Lori into a cell. She was more along the same lines as Daryl about sleeping in a cage, but right now it was better for her to be close to Lori. Maybe after the baby was born, she would migrate over to where Daryl and Tara were. Emma took the top bunk, so Lori could make herself comfortable. Her and Carol would trade off keeping an eye on Lori. If Emma left to help the others fight, Carol would stay with Lori because Hershel was also training her to help with the baby. Most other times, Emma would stay with her. Emma felt her eyelids dropping slowly. She wanted to stay awake, but it wasn't long before darkness took her and she too fell asleep.


End file.
